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WHAT IS SPIRITUALISM? 

Who Arc These Spiritualists? 

AND 

WHAT CAN SPIRITUALISM DO FOR THE WORLD? 

By 
J. M. PEEBLES, M. D„ M. A.. PH. D. 



FIFTH EDITION 
Revised and Enlarged 



Author of 



"The Seers of the Ages," "Immortality, and Our Future Homes and 
Employments," "The Christ Question Settled," "Five Journeys 
Around the World," "Demonism of the Ages," "Death De- 
feated or the Psychic Secret of How to Keep Young," 
"Spiritualism versus Materialism," "The Path- 
way of the Spirit," "Spirit Mates," 
etc., etc. 



PEEBLES PUBLISHING CO., BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, U. S. A. 



■y 



**> 



Entered According to Act of Gongress in the Year iqio by 

J. M. PEEBLES, M.D. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D, (3, 

All Rights Reserved 



©GI.A2755g 



INDEX 



Abbott, 94 
Acevedo, 181 
Aksakof, 150 
Alexander, Prof. ; 146 
Alexander II. 104 
Anthony, 29 
Apostles, 27 
Apuleius, 17 
Arnold, 152 
Ashburner, 147 
Austin, 156 

Babbitt, 148 
Bacon, 169 
Baissao, 179 
Ballou, 59 
Baraduc, 178, 197 
Barker, 78 
Barkas, 159 
Barrett, H. D., 143 
Barrett, J. O., 157 
Barrett, W. F., 116 
Bede, 22 

Beecher, H. W., 75 
Beecher, T. K., 75 
Beighle, 165 
Belfiore, 149 
Bellashini, 174 
Benito, 110 
Berigny, 149 
Berosus, 16 
Blake, 149 
Blavatsky, 172 
Bonnamere, 175 
Bonnamy, 177 
Bosc, 176 
Bostook, 30 
Bottazzi, 145 
Bucher, 178 
Boutlerow, 104 
Bouvery, 177 
Braokett, 200 
Bright, A., 163 
Bright, J., 101 



Britten, 52 
Britten, 165 
Broferio, 146 
Bronte, 161 
Brougham, 150 
Brown, J. P., 140 
Brown, H. J., 161 
Browne, 169 
Browning, 153 
Brunton, 141 
Buchanan, 113 
Bodalles, 180 
Bull, 154 
Bush, 165 

Cadwallader, 167 
Caillie, 162 
Caithness, 165 
Cahagnet, 147 
Calcan, 160 
CampbeU, Rev. J., 133 
Campbell, Rev. R.J. ,167 
Capuana, 149 
Capellaro, 178 
Carey, 182 
Carpenter, 160 
Cassal, 146 
Castelar, 119 
Cellini, 30 
Celsus, 25 
Challis, 129 
Channing, 158 
Chalmers, 188 
Chambers, 68 
Chiaia, 109 
Chopin, 186 
Cicero, 21 
Clark, A., 43 
Clark, J. G., 76 
Clark, T. M., 91 
Coleman, B. W., 165 
Coleman, W. E., 143 
Colley, 157 
Colville, 168 



Constantine, 150 
Cooper, 109 
Coppee, 154 
Corson, 189 
Costa, 95 
Coste, 177 
Cordurie, 178 
Coues, 145 
Cox, Sgt., 130 
Cox, E. W., 165 
Crawford, 144 
Cromwell, 30 
Crookes, 123 
Crouzet, 178 
Crowe, 147 
Crowell, 149 
Czar, 214 

D'Aiglun, 175 
D'Alesi, 175 
Dailey, 106 
Dariex, 220 
Davenport, 223 
Da vies, 158 
Davis, 49 
Dean, 169 
Delanne, 177 
Denis, 178 
Denovan, 165 
Denton, 145 
Descartes, 30 
Dickens, 63 
Drayson, 151 
Dionys, 176 
Dow, 191 
Dueasse, 177 
Dumas, 155 
Dupony, 178 

Eadon, 168 
Edison, 193 
Edland* 146 
Edmonds, 50 
Edward VII, 185 



II 



Index. 



Eito, 180 
Elliotson, 144 
Emerson, 182 
Eollenhoff, 153 
Epimenides, 17 
Ermacio, 14G 
Ermacora, 179 
Esdaile, 149 
Esenbach, 117 
Evans, 47 

Faget, 178 
Falcomer, 111, 147 
Fallows, 174 
Fancher, 107 
Farjeon, 174 
Farnum, 143 
Fauvety, 153 
Favre, 127 
Fay, 223 
Fechner, 113 
Felix, 24 
Ferguson, 97 
Fichte, 128 
Figuier, 154 
Fishbough, 60] 
Fixeii, 159 
Flammanon, 129 
Flascheon, 178 
Fletcher, 98 
Flourney, 130 
Flower, 143 
Fogozzi, 154 
Fox, G., 33 
Fox Sisters, 49 
Francis, 142 

Garrison, 64 
George, 78 
Gerosa, 149 
Ghose, 173 
Gibier, 147 
Gladstone, 113 
Godin, 178 
Goethe, 29 
Grange, 178 
Greeley, 54 
Greenbury, 168 
Gregory, 119 
Grimard, 162 
Grood, 160 
Gros, 178 
Guaranga, 173 
Guldenstubble, 150 
Gully, 148 



Hall, 163 
Hall, 118 
Hallock, 150 
Hamilton, 174 
Hare, 52 
Harter, 141 
Hausman, 165 
Hawies, 88 
Hay, 140 
Hellenbach, 151 
Hepworth, 138 
Hermes. 16 
Hesiod, 18 
Hickson, 149 
Higginson, 169 
Hitchman, 148 
Hoffman, 119 
Hodgson, 147 
Hobson, 38 
Holmes, 182 
Home, 101 
Homer, 17 
Hopps, 118 
Hosmer, 65 
Houdin, 174 
Houssaye, 176 
Howden, 104 
Howitt, G., 149 
Howitt, Wm, 69 
Howitt, M., 73 
Hugo, 131 
Humboldt, 188 
Hume, 18 
Hyde, 41 
Hyslop, 199 

Ignatius, 28 
Irving, 161 
Isham, 153 

Jacobs, 174 
James, 164 
Jefferson, 149 
Jenken. 165 
Johnson, B., 30 
Johnson, Dr., 29 
Johnson, O., 120 
Jones, 143 



Kant, 76 
Kendall, H., 168 
Kendall, W. C, 168 
Kerner, 149 
Kerr, 158 



Kiddle, 187 
Kirkup, 93 

Lacordaire, 179 
Ladame, 178 
Landsdorff, 165 
Landseer, 160 
Larkin, 168 
Lauer, 140 
Lee, 46 

Lewmarie, 178 
Lincoln, 60 
Lindsay, 104 
Lippitt, 164 
Lodge, 143 
Loef, 160 
Longfellow, 115 
Lombroso, 108 
Lopez, 180 
Lowell, 185 
Louis XVI, 47 
Loyola, 29 
Lucan, 21 
Lyn'd hurst, 153 
Lytton, 153 

Macarthy, 213 
Maclaren, 159 
Macintosh, 33 
Marconi, 195 
Mapes, 147 
Magnai, 220 
Marghieri, 112 
Marryatt, 155 
Marsh, 113 
Martin, 180 
Mason, 100 
Massey, 96 
Masucci, 179 
Mayo, 144 
Metzger, 176 
Milton, 64 
Momerie, 219 
Montannus, 29 
Montant, 178 
Monvoisin, 178 
Moody, 97 
Moreland, 96 
Morgan, Prof., 128 
Morgan, Mrs., 147 
Morse, 142 
Morselli, 146 
Moses, 162 
Motherwell, 149 
Moulton, 165 



Index. 



in 



Mowatt, 160 
Mueller, 149 
Myers, 160 

Napoleon, 152 
Napoleon, Emp., 105 
Newman, 136 
Newton, H., 157 
Newton, W., 160 
Nicholas, 153 
Nicholls, 150 
Noeggarath, 164 
Noel, 152 
Nus, 152 

Ochorowicz, 101 
Olcott, 172 
Oliphant, 151 
Origen, 25 
Owen, 155 
Owen, 169 
Oxley, 160 

Parker, 55 
Parkyn, 158 
Parson, 165 
Perty, 146 
Pictet, 110 
Pierpont, 120 
Pix, 175 
Plato, 19 
Plutarch, 18 
Pope 29 
Porphyry, 20 
Powers, 119 
Posts, 50 
Prel, 150, 195 
Prudhomme, 139 
Putnam, 161 
Puvis, 178 
Pythagoras, 20 

Radnor, 153 
Ramasami, 174 
Randolph, 161 
Raoul, 161 
Ravlin, 158 
Rayleigh, 119 
Reed, 190 
Reichel, 212 
Reichendach 118 
Reichet, 178 



Rhys, 174 
Richardson; 149 
Richmond, 159 
Robertson, Dr., 130 
Robertson, Jas., 168 
Roca, 179 
Rochas, 220 
Rogers, 142 
Rohner, 149 
Ruskin 78 

Sabbatier, 146 
Sanborn, 158 
Santangelo, 178 
Sardou, 89 
Sargent, 120 
Savage, 157 
Schaff, 138 
Scheibner, 119 
Secchi, 181 
Seiling, 111 
Seling, 146 
Sexton, 148 
Shakespeare, 45 
Sharpe, 165 
Shelley, 48 
Sherer, 44 
Smith, 164 
Speer, 149 
Socrates, 18 
Solanot, 180 
Soriano, 180 
Southey, 42 
Stanford, L„ 203 
Stanford, T. W. 206 
Stead, 161, 195 
Stock, 152 
Stoddart, 149 
Stowe, 74 
Strabo, 16 
Sullivan, 120 
Swedenborg, 43 

Talmage, 119 
Tasso, 30 
Tatian, 29 
Taylor, 164 
Tennyson, 183 
Tertulian, 26 
Terry, 163 
Thackeray, 118 
Thales, 17 
Thiers. 129 



Thomas, 130 
Thompson, 119 
Tiffany, 96 
Tissot, 100 
Tolstoy, 105 
Tommolo, 181 
Tornebom, 146 
Torto, 220 
Tours, 178 
Trollope, 154 
Tuttle, E. R. 143 
Tuttle, H., 151 
Underwood, 155 

Vacquerie, 174 
Valles, 178 
Varley, 127 
Vives, 181 

Wade, 116 
Wagner, 119 
Wallace, 121 
Wallace, Mrs., 164 
Wallis, 142 
Walters, 174 
Ware, 168 
Watson, 158 
Weaver, 140 
Weber, 116 
Weil, 165 
Wesley, 36 
Whateley, 188 
Whipple, 162 
Whiting, 94 
Whittier, 113 
Wicksteed, 165 
Wilberforce, 155 
Wilcox, 86 
Wilder, 143 
Wilkinson, 147 
Willard, 166 
Williams, R, H., 161 
Williams, V., 168 
Willis, 149 
Wilson, 164 
Windeyer, 164 
Woodman, 161 
Wright, D., 142 
Wright, H. C, 96 
Wyld, 152 

Zeno, 17 
Zollner, 116 



PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION 

The unexpected success attending the demand for this 
original booklet, "Who Are These Spiritualists V — 
growing in size through each edition into the present 
bound volume, has far exceeded my most sanguine expec- 
tations; calling from my heart's depths, grateful appre- 
ciation towards personal inquirers and all of our pa- 
trons so promptly securing copies. 

The rapidly increasing demand for Spiritualistic lit- 
erature of a rational and religious character, is a 
marked and significant sign, showing the progress* and 
the search-light purposes of the times. 

Naturally shrinking from the chill and silence of 
death, nothing of greater importance can possibly occupy 
the human mind than the present proofs — the incontest- 
able proofs of a conscious life beyond the grave. 

With this book goes forth from my soul thousands of 
good wishes and richest of heaven's blessings. 

J. M. P. 



INTRODUCTION 

Considering the inspirational gems and poetical 
pearls, as well as the more sober, serious lines of prose 
pulsing freshly in the warm heart of Robert Burns, no 
one, critic or inspired seer, can fail to do homage at his 
shrine. His hopes and doubts alternated like sunbeams 
and shadows. His clouded life history touching a future 
world, is the history of millions today. He was not an 
atheist nor a materialist, but a genial, fraternal, warm- 
souled agnostic, who, when writing to a lady friend, 
said :— 

i ' Can it be possible that when I resign this frail, fever- 
ish being, I shall still find myself in conscious existence? 
When the last gasp of agony has announced that I am 
no more to those who knew me, when the cold, stiffened 
ghastly corpse is consigned into the earth to be the prey 
of unsightly reptiles, and in time become a trodden clod, 
shall I be yet warm in life, seeing and being seen, enjoy- 
ing and enjoyed? A thousand timies have I made this 
apostrophe to the departed sons of men, but not one of 
them has thought fit to answer. Oh, that some courteous 
ghost would blab it out. But it cannot be. You and I, 
my friend, must make the experiment, by ourselves and 
for ourselves. In vain I seek, in vain I call; the ghosts 
are all silent.' ' 

Again he writes thus of immortality: — 

" Would to God I as firmly believed it as I ardently 
wish it. There I should meet an aged parent. There I 



IV Introduction 

should recognize, with speechless rapture, my lost, my 
ever-dear Mary!" 

There are multitudes of good, earnest inquiring per- 
sons today, standing where Eobert Burns stood when 
writing his inspirational poems, standing under a cloud 
at the portal doorway of doubts and fears regarding a 
future life; and nothing but Spiritualism can lift that 
cloud and show us the dwellers in that radiant summer- 
land of life and progress and blessedness. 

Over the portal of the Temple of Sais, said Iamibli- 
chus, "was inscribed these words, — 'I am all that has 
heen^and shall be; and my peplum, or veil, no mortal 
hath yet withdrawn.' " "Man dieth, wasteth away, giv- 
eth up the ghost, and where is he*?" was an Old Testa- 
ment writer's inquiry. The thought of immortality was 
ever before the minds of the ancients, and measurably 
unanswered. They saw through a glass darkly; but, 
thanks to God and the good angels, Spiritualism has 
lifted and drawn aside that veil, demonstrating a future, 
conscious existence, and thereby intimately acquainting 
us with the conditions and occupations of those whose 
bodies are wasting away beneath the grasses and the 
weeping willows of the valley. 

"Have any of the scribes and the Pharisees believed 
on Him," the Nazarene? was the common question in the 
city of Jerusalem, in Galilee, and the regions beyond Jor- 
dan in the early days of that inspired man-martyr of 
Palestine. 

Human nature, whether Turanian, Semitic, or Ary- 
anic, is the same in all ages. The masses seek fame, 
pelf, power. The ever-recurring question of this mate- 



Introduction V 

rialistic generation is not — is this demonstrated fact of 
a future life true?— is this newly conceived truth that in- 
visible intelligences exist and communicate with us really 
true? — but, is it respectable, is it popular, have the 
churches — have the Pharisees of fashion accepted it? 
Do the rich and aristocratic patronize it? Such is 
largely the poor, piteous obliquity of today's mental and 
religious condition. 

To meet the needs of such inglorious specimens of 
humanity — such babes in the scale of a royally-unfolded 
manhood, — has this collection of noted names been gath- 
ered from press articles, books, and magazine essays — 
and booked; and in the collection I have been greatly 
aided by that distinguished writer, author, and book-re- 
viewer, W. H. Terry and the late Chevalier James 
Smith, of Melbourne, Australia. Some of those, whose 
names are herein recorded, illumined the pages of long- 
ago history,— such as Socrates, Lucan, Origen, etc. 
Certain others mentioned, though investigating the spir- 
itual phenomena and the psychic forces in man for years, 
have not openly avowed their adhesion to Spiritualism, 
but with hyper-cautiousness, they announce themselves 
as "investigators." The great majority, however, have 
been adherents to the Harmonial Philosophy and angel 
ministries or are today acknowledged and avowed Spir- 
itualists, and I may add, very many of them I have per- 
sonally met in my extensive travels in foreign lands. 
Some few mistakes there may be. These, if pointed out, 
will be promptly corrected in future editions. 

J. M. PEEBLES, M. D. 
Battle Creek, Michigan. 



WHAT IS SPIRITUALISM? 

Spiritualism is the philosophy of life — and the direct 
opposite of materialism. If the illustrious Tyndall saw 
the "potency and promise" of all life in matter, Spirit- 
ualists, with all rationalistic idealists, see the potency 
and promise of all life and evolutionary unfoldment in 
Spirit, which Spirit permeates and energizes the matter 
of all the subordinate kingdoms, mineral, vegetable and 
animal. 

Thinking — meditating, Columbus concluded that if 
there was a "this side," there must necessarily be a 
"that side" to the world. And so sailing on and still 
onward toward the western sunset under the inspiration 
of a lofty faith, he discovered the new world, — and, like 
a flash, faith became fruition. 

And so students of the occult: Spiritualists of the 
last century, meditating, investigating, discovered, or 
rather, re-discovered the spirit world — the Spiritualism 
of the elder ages. Intuition and the soul's higher senses, 
with the outreaching ideal, are ever prophesying of the 
incoming real. The today's, afire with life and love, 
assure us of a coming tomorrow. This world indicates 
another — a future world, which Spiritualists have not 
only rediscovered, but have quite fully described. 

Spiritualism does not create truth, but is a living wit- 
ness to the truth of a future existence. It reveals it — 
demonstrates it, describing its inhabitants — their occu- 
pations and characteristics. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 7 

Hannibal crossed the Alps twenty centuries before 
Napoleon did. Napoleon reasoned that what man had 
done, man could do, so with flags and banners unfurled 
he led the conquering French over the snow-capped Alps. 
And through all the centuries before and since Hanni- 
bal 's time, through all the historic ages there were rifts 
in the clouds — there were visions and voices from the 
better land of immortality. Inspired mystics and phi- 
losophers testified alike to the reality of apparitions, the 
appearance of good angels and the fulfilment of dreams. 
An angel — a spiritual being — appeared to Joseph in a 
dream announcing the coming of Jesus. 

Patriarchs, prophets, and seers in Abraham's and 
Isaiah's time conversed with spirits and angels accord- 
ing to the Scriptures. Apostles, disciples, and the early 
Christians before and after John and Paul's time, con- 
sciously communed with the spirits of those they had 
known on earth — and why should not we! Neither God 
nor his laws have changed. The reputed wise man, 
Solomon, said: 

1 ' The thing that had been, is that which shall be, and 
that which is done is that which shall be done, . . . and 
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." (Eccl. 3:14.) 

Is God dead? Are angel lips padlocked? There 
were visions, trances, apparitions, spiritual gifts, and 
conscious spirit communications all through the past 
ages — why not now? Have the heavens over us become 
brass? and have angel tongues become palsied? These 
things did happen in the past — and they occur today. 
And few, if any, except the most illiterate— except the 
atheist, the impudent bigot and the iron-clad, creed-bound 



8 What Is Spiritualism? 

sectarists deny it. Spiritualism is the most unpopular 
among the ignorant. It is also very unpopular in sec- 
tarian club rooms, idiotic infirmaries, and State peniten- 
tiaries. 

When that highly inspired man of Nazareth preached 
his radical doctrines in Palestine, and performed his 
astonishing mediumistic works, crowds following him, 
some of the doubting cautious conservatives of those 
times asked the question: "Have any of the rulers of 
the Pharisees believed on him?" That is to say, have 
any of the reputed great and wise believed on him? If 
so, we, the driftwood — we, the putty-headed policy men- 
will fall in line. Human nature is the same in all ages, 
and cowards are ever the same shrinking, apologizing, 
oily-tongued moral cowards. 

SPIRITUALISM IS NOT SPIRITISM 

Spiritualism must be differentiated from spiritism. 
The terminologies of the two words absolutely necessi- 
tate, as every scholar knows, entirely different meanings. 
Chinese, Indians, and Utah Mormons are spiritists, be- 
lieving in present spirit communications. Most of the 
African tribes of the Dark Continent worship demons and 
believe in spirit converse, but certainly they are not in- 
telligent, religious Spiritualists. 

Spiritism is a psychological science — a fact — a sort of 
modernized Babylonian necromancy. The baser portion 
of its devotees, hypnotized by the unembodied denizens 
of Hades, divine for dollars. It is promiscuous spirit 
commerce with a high tariff. It is from the lower 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 9 

spheres, and morally gravitates toward the dark. It 
has its legerdemain, its tricksters, frauds, and traveling 
tramps. They should be exposed and shunned as you 
would shun dens of adders. Spiritism, I repeat, is a fact ; 
so is geology, so is mesmerism, so is telepathy, and so, 
also, is a rattlesnake 's bite. Facts may be morally true or 
false. They may serve for purposes of good or direst 
ill. As an exhibition of wonders — as pabulum for skep- 
tical atheists, who demand visible sight of the invisible 
infinite One, and insist upon a terrific clap of thunder 
to convince them of the existence of electricity, commercial 
spiritism with its seeking for gold-fields, and hunting for 
" social affinities," with its attending, shadowy hosts, 
manifesting in ill-ventilated seance rooms, may be a tem- 
porary necessity and to a degree useful, but it legiti- 
mately belongs, with such kindred subjects as mesmer- 
ism, to the category of the sciences. 

But Spiritualism, originating in God who is Spirit, 
and grounded in man's moral nature, is a substantial 
fact, and infinitely more — a fact plus reason and con- 
science; a fact relating to moral and religious culture — 
a sublime spiritual truth ultimating in consecration to 
the good, the beautiful, and the heavenly. 

Spiritualism — a grand, moral science, and a wisdom 
religion — proffers the key that unlocks the mysteries of 
the ages. It constituted the foundation stones of all the 
ancient faiths. It was the vitalizing soul of all past relig- 
ions. It was the mighty uplifting force that gave to the 
world in all ages, its inspired teachers and immortal 
leaders. 

Rightly translated, the direct words of Jesus are 



10 What Is Spiritualism? 

(John 4:24)— "Spirit is God." The spiritual is the real 
and the substantial. The spiritually minded are reveren- 
tial. They are religions. Their life is a prayer. "The 
fruit of the Spirit,' ' said the apostle to the Gentiles, "is 
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, temperance. ' ' Spiritualism, by what- 
ever name known, without the fruit of the Spirit, with- 
out religion and moral growth, is but the veriest rust 
and rubbish; and religion, by whatever name known, in 
any age, without Spiritualism and its accompanying 
spiritual gifts, is only an empty shell — an offensive 
creedal cadaver that should be buried without ecclesias- 
tical formalities. 

NOT PHENOMENA ALONE 

Spirit is God. And Spiritualism, while inhering in and 
originating from God, does not center alone, nor rest 
entirely upon phenomena, but upon spirit — upon the 
spiritual and moral constitution of man, which consti- 
tution requires such spiritual sustenance as inspiration, 
prayer, vision, trance, clairvoyance, and heavenly im- 
pressions from the divine sphere of love and wisdom. 
Spiritualists, like the primitive Christians, believe in 
God the Father and in the brotherhood of the races. 
They acknowledge the living Christ; they feel the influx 
of the Holy Spirit ; they converse with angels ; they culti- 
vate the religious emotions; they open their seances, 
many of them, with prayer. They are richly blessed with 
visions and calm, uplifting ministrations from angelic 
homes. They see in every pure crystal stream a Jordan, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 11 

in every verdure-clad mountain a present Olivet, and 
in every well-cultivated prairie a Canaan flowing with 
the milk and honey of spiritual truth — love to Ood and 
love to man. 

Spiritualism teaches salvation by character; or by 
the life, as did Paul in his higher inspired moments, who 
said, " Being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 
(Romans 5:10.) 

Spirit is God. And neither matter nor sea-slime nor 
protoplasm constitutes the basis of conscious life, but 
spirit — that is to say, spiritual or divine substance. 
Spirituality is the substantial reality. And man is a 
spirit now — a spirit living in a material body, which 
body bears something of the same relation to the real, 
conscious, invisible man, that the husk bears to the corn, 
—chaff to the wheat. 

Evidently man is a trinity in unity, constituted of a 
physical body, a soul, or soul body, and a conscious, un- 
dying spirit — one uncompounded, indestructive divine 
substance — the Divine Ego. Advanced spirits are de- 
nominated angels. Spirits are but men and women di- 
vested of their mortal bodies. They have taken with 
them consciousness, memory, reason, sympathy, char- 
acter. They walk by our side often, and yet unseen. 
Philosophically considered, there is but one world, and 
that one world embraces the yesterdays, the todays, and 
the innumerable tomorrows of eternity. 

ALL MEN ARE INNATELY IMMORTAL 

Spiritualism, with its signs, wonders, visions, and heal- 
ing gifts, was the religion of the apostles; of the post- 



12 What Is Spiritualism,® 

apostolic fathers, and of the primitive Christians up to 
the reign of Constantine, the murderous Roman Em- 
peror. 

Spiritualism has not only positively demonstrated a 
future life, but it has explained the philosophy and psy- 
chic methods of spirit intercourse; it has greatly liberal- 
ized the religious mind; it has encouraged the philan- 
thropic reforms of the age, and it has given us a revised 
geography of the heavens and the hells. Mortals enter 
the future world with as absolutely substantial bodies as 
we have here, only more refined and etherealized. There 
are different degrees of happiness there. Memory is the 
undying worm. There is intense mental suffering in 
those lower Cimmerian spheres. And yet, God builds no 
hells; he burns no man's fingers here, damns no souls 
hereafter. Men are the architects of their own hells; 
they reap what they sow. Every child born into this 
world is a possible archangel or a possible demon; his 
head touching the world of light, his feet the world of 
darkness. Man is a rational, moral and responsible being, 
having the power of choice. Punishment follows sin, as 
cause and effect. There is no escape. Divine punishment 
is disciplinary in all worlds. Christ Jesus and other 
martyred reformers still preach to undeveloped impris- 
oned spirits. The angels call, and souls are constantly 
coming up through tribulation deep. The door of mercy 
is not shut; there is ever the opportunity of progress 
from darkness to light. God is love. 

Modern Spiritualism, of which Swedenborg was the 
John the Baptist, and those Christian people, " believers,' ' 
derisively called " Shakers,' ' were the first organized 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 13 

body of men and women in Anierica to fully realize the 
true meaning of the spiritual phenomena — which has 
disclosed some of the unspeakable beauties awaiting U3 
in the many mansioned house of the Father. These man- 
sions — aural spheres, enzoning stars and planets — are 
real, substantial, and adaptively fitted for the abodes of 
spirits, angels, and archangels. These, aflame with love, 
are ever active in some educational or redemptive work. 
Heaven's rest is not idleness; the soul's activities are in- 
tensified by the transition. The future life is a social 
life, a progressive life, a heavenly life of growth, of love, 
of wisdom, and of truth. 

NEGATIVELY 

Intelligent, cultured Spiritualists do not deny the 
existence of God — do not deny the existence of Jesus of 
Nazareth, the mediumistic man and martyr, overshad- 
owed and infilled with the Christ-spirit — do not deny 
the Holy Spirit of love and wisdom, the quickening 
Spirit of truth — do not deny the necessity of repentance, 
of prayer, of faith, of religion, of abiding trust, and 
the importance of living a conscious, spiritual and 
holy life. 

Spiritualism is not, as aforesaid, materialism ; but on 
the contrary, is right the reverse of materialism, consid- 
ering Spirit the basic foundation of all things, in all 
worlds. 

Spiritualism, I repeat, is not spiritism, that is, talking 
with the dead for curiosity, for fleshly gratification, for 
selfish gain, for ambitious ends, or for unworthy, amus- 



14 What Is Spiritualism? 

ing, and irreligious purposes. If this was the witch- 
spiritism that Moses condemned or disapproved of, he did 
well. It should be discouraged, condemned today as 
unworthy of rational royal-souled men and women. 

Spiritualism is not secular socialism, in the anarchistic 
sense of that word; but Spiritualism is of God, and the 
mightiest, divinest word in the universe, except God or 
the Christ of God. The corner-stone, the foundation pil- 
lar of Spiritualism is Spirit; and God is Spirit, essen- 
tial and immutable. The philological scale runs thus: 
Spirit, spiritual, Spiritualism. The spiritually-minded 
man is more than a mere, conscious spirit-man. All are 
spirit-men now, living in a spirit or etheric world, but not 
in a spiritual world, not in that exalted heavenly state of 
love and purity. 

Spiritualism, in its broadest sense, is a knowledge of 
everything pertaining to the spiritual nature of human 
beings. It is cosmopolitan, eclectic, uplifting and heaven- 
inspiring. Spiritualists, being believers in the Christ, 
have the New Testament promised spiritual gifts — the 
gift of converse with the so-called dead, the gift of heal- 
ing, the gift of tongues, the gift of clairvoyantly "dis" 
cerning the spirits," and other gifts spoken of in the 
ancient Scriptures. Spiritualists believe in the great law 
of evolution. They teach that there is sweet reward for 
well-doing and certain punishment for every wrong ac- 
tion; and that all the good and divine that is attained 
here, will be retained when entering the spiritual world ; 
that we are building now, by our conduct and characters, 
our homes in the future state of immortality. 

When the genuine Spiritualism is generally recog- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 15 

nized, and becomes, as it will, the universal religion, — 
when it becomes actualized and out-wrought through the 
personal lives of earth's surging millions, it will no 
longer be selfishly said, "mine — mine," but "ours, 
yours," and for all who appropriate it for holy uses. 
This is the resurrection — a spiritually exalted resurrec- 
tion state in this present life. It is Christ— the living 
Christ within. It is divine altruism. 

I repeat, when Spiritualism in its divinest aspects is 
literally practiced, our country will be the universe, our 
home the world, our rest wherever a human heart beats 
in sympathy with our own, and the highest happiness of 
each will be altruism. Then, when this Chris tly Spirit- 
ualism abounds, will the soil be as free for all to cultivate 
as the air to breathe; gardens will blossom and bear 
fruit for the most humble; and orphans will find homes 
of tenderest sympathy in all houses. This is Spiritual- 
ism, pure, simple, and practical. I invite other sectarian 
religionists, as well as devil-intoxicated Seventh-day Ad- 
ventists, to ground their ecclesiastical weapons of rebel- 
lion, to do works meet for repentance, and to come to us 
— America's Mount Zion— and we will do them good. 

In the above statements or definitions of Spiritualism, 
I speak for myself only — not others. Spiritualists have 
no Roman Pope — no Anglican bishop — no Mrs. Eddy, 
and they desire to build up no new sect or institute a 
cast-iron creed. 

Though Spiritualists number millions upon mil- 
lions in all enlightened countries — and though there 
are more or less Spiritualists in every church in the 
land (unless it be that little seven-by-nine side issue, 



16 What Is Spiritualism? 

the Seventh-day Second Adventists), there are those 
who ask half sneeringly, "Who are these Spiritual- 
ists V My brief reply is, They constitute the thoughtful 
brains of the world. I repeat, the brainiest people of the 
world today are straight out-and-out Spiritualists, or 
favorably inclined to Spiritualism. They are the cul- 
tured. They are the inspired. They stand upon the 
mountain top. They live in the sunlight of eternal truth. 

SPIRITUALISTS— ANCIENT AND MODERN 

In Ancient Egypt, Spiritualism was the very founda- 
tion of the national religion. Their heirophants taught 
the initiated that the soul is immortal; that during sev- 
eral lives, it passed through several zoether zones, all of 
which were processes of purification. 

HERMES taught that the visible is but a picture of the 
invisible world — that this earth was surrounded by cir- 
cles of ether, and that in these ether circles the souls of 
the dead lived and guarded mortals. 

STRABO states that in the temple of Serapis at Cano- 
pus, "great worship was performed and many miracu- 
lous works wrought, which the most eminent men be- 
lieved and practiced, while others devoted themselves to 
the sacred sleep," that is, the unconscious trance. The 
consecrated temple at Alexandria was still more famous 
for its oracles, consecrated sleep, and the healing of 
invalids. 

BEROSUS, in transcribing the early legends of Baby- 
lonia and Chaldea, describes the gods of heaven and the 
lower elementaries who were in sympathy with them, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 17 

and often influenced the inhabitants of earth both for 
good and ill. They had magical directions for dispos- 
sessing disturbing demons and for inviting the protection 
of the good genii — in other words, the more exalted 
spirits. 

A tablet in the library at Nineveh describes seven 
supreme gods, fifty great gods of heaven and earth , 
three hundred spirits of the lower heavens, and six hun- 
dred of the earth. These latter were invoked to bring 
messages from the invisible shores of immortality. 

The master minds of Greece, such as Thales, who lived 
some six hundred years b. c, thought that the universe 
was peopled with daimons, who were the spiritual guides 
of human beings and the invisible witnesses of all their 
thoughts and actions. 

EPIMENIDES, the contemporary of Solon, frequently 
received divine revelations from the spiritual heavens. 

ZENO declared that tutelary, or guardian, spirits in- 
spired his speech and directed his actions. 

APULEIUS, the Roman historian, assured the people 
that the souls of men, when detached from their bodies 
and freed from their physical functions, became a spe- 
cies of daimon, or lemurs, who gratified their beneficence 
in watchfully guarding individuals, families, and cities. 

HOMER, in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, de- 
scribes the spirit of Patroclus as appearing to Achilles, 
and adjuring him to bestow the last funeral rites upon 
the body of his friend, that he might the sooner com- 
mence his spiritual advancement. 

In the eleventh book of the Odyssey, Ulysses is de- 
picted as visiting the underworld regions of the Cimme- 



18 What Is Spiritualism? 

rians, and as conversing with the spirit of Tyresius El- 
penor and his own mother, from whom he received most 
encouraging tidings. 

HESIOD, the poet, whose verses were so prized by 
the old Greeks that they committed them to memory, be- 
lieved that each conscious soul was a potential portion of 
God, the "OveTsoul." Recognizing the conscious exist- 
ence of these souls, or spirits, he thought they were 
drawn earthward from the higher regions by the desires 
of their friends. 

PLUTABCH informs us that those who aspired to be 
brought into sympathetic communion with the higher in- 
telligences of the shiadowlands were expected to renounce 
the follies of the world and to practice self-denial, and 
to bring the lower functions and faculties of their na- 
tures into complete subjection to the spiritual. 

SOCRATES was constantly .attended with a " divine 
voice* ' to admonish, guard, and guide him in the events 
of his daily life; while it urged to good deeds he declared 
that it "restrained from evil." It sustained him to bear 
unrepiningly the revilings of the ill-tempered Xantippe, 
and with an unfaltering trust to drain the fatal cup. 

When asked by his disciple, Crito, "Where shall we 
bury you, ' ' he replied, in substance, ' ' Bury me just where 
you please, if you can only catch me," and then he fur- 
ther added, "Have I not told you and the wise men 
that the body is not Socrates V 9 

In the palmy and prosperous days of Greece, Spirit- 
ualism was the only religion that inspired to the higher 
life. Hence, HUME says: "We learn from a hundred mas- 
terpieces of the intellect, how untiring was that spirit of 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 19 

restless inquiry with which every people of Hellas 
searched into the secrets of the unseen. No city was 
founded; no army marched forth to battle; no vessels 
laden with emigrants set sail for Italy or Asia Minor 
without consulting the oracles of the gods." 

PLATO, the favorite pupil of Socrates and prince of 
philosophers, held precisely the same ideas in regard to 
spirits and their communion with mortals as did his 
great teacher. " There are," he said, "daimons, the 
souls of those who have died ; and each human being has 
a particular spirit with him, to be his tutelary and guid- 
ing genius during his mortal lifetime; and when the 
physical life is ended, this spirit receives and accompan- 
ies the enfranchised one to its future destiny, the Elys- 
ian Fields of immortality. Deity has no immediate in- 
tercourse with men. All communication between gods 
and mortals is carried on by means of demons, both in 
sleeping and waking. They are clothed with air, wander 
through heaven, hover over the stars, and abide on the 
earth." 

Between God and man are the spirits, who are al- 
ways near us, though commonly invisible to us, and who 
know all our thoughts. They are intermediate between 
gods and men. He also says : * ' The demons direct man 
often in the quality of guardian spirits, in all his actions, 
as witness the demon of Socrates." (Apol., p. 31-40.) 
Again he says: "A deity has deprived them (the poets) 
of their senses, and employs them as his ministers and 
oracle-singers and divine prophets, in order that when 
we hear them we may know it is they to whom sense is 
not present and who speak what is valuable, but the god 



20 What Is Spiritualism? 

himself who speaks, and through them addresses us; . 
. . poets are nothing else but interpreters of the gods 
(or spirits) possessed by whatever deity they may hap- 
pen to be." 

POKPHYBY, a Greek philosopher of the Neo-Platonic 
school, was known to say : ' ' Spirits are invisible, never- 
theless they reveal themselves sometimes in visible 
form. " 

PYTHAGORAS, who visited India, Persia, and Egypt, 
and who had been initiated into the inner court of Isis, 
was one of the most astonishing mediums of antiquity. 
His psychic powers were attested by such writers as 
Claudius .ZEian, Porphyry of Tyre, the Greek philoso- 
pher, and Jamblichus, the Neo-Platonist. Pythagoras as- 
serted that souls, immortal and pre-existent, were real 
entities distinct from the body in which they may for a 
time be enveloped. He declares that "the intelligent soul 
has a subtile body of its own, which protects it from the 
gross outer body, and which may at times talk with the 
gods. ' f 

LAO-TSE and CONFUCIUS, early Chinese philosophers 
and teachers, who antedate the Christian era more than 
five hundred years, inculcate the worship of spirits and 
ceremonial observances to the souls of ancestors. Howitt 
says: "They taught that there existed guardian spirits; 
that the visible world is in constant rapport with the 
invisible; that both good and evil spirits surround us — 
nay, are within us; they are cognizant of our in- 
most thoughts, and recount them in heaven; that house- 
hold spirits, or penates, record all our actions and de- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 21 

liver in their account to heaven on the last day of every 
moon." 

LUCAN, born 38 a. d., a nephew of the Philosopher 
Seeneea, and educated at Rome, in his ' ' Pharsalia, ' ' when 
lamenting the loss of oracles, says, "The greatest mis- 
fortune of our age is to have lost that admirable gift 
of heaven. The oracle of Delphi has become silent since 
kings feared the future, and no longer desired to hear 
the verdict of the gods." 

The eminent William Howitt, in writing of Lucan, 
says: "Anterior to Christianity, the whole system of 
the ancients is one of divine supervision and interference 
in the affairs of man. The gods not only direct human 
events by their counsels, but personally appear to men 
and co-operate in their aims and achievements. No 
nation ever gave up the belief in the existence of 
spirits acting with them and for them. The nearness of 
the spirit-world maintained its consciousness imperish- 
ably in the human soul." 

TITUS, Emperor of Rome, born 40 a. d., in a speech to 
his soldiers, encouraging them to deeds of valor, is re- 
ported as saying :"For what man of virtue is there who 
does not know that those souls which are severed from 
their fleshly bodies in battles by the sword, and receive 
by the ether, that purest of elements, and joined to that 
company which are placed among the stars — that they 
become good demons (spirits) and propitious heroes, and 
show themselves as such to their posterity afterward?" 

CICERO tells us that the mysteries, which were symbol- 
ically allied to spiritual invisible presences, enkindled 
and inspired a knowledge of the future life, and made 



22 What Is Spiritualism? 

this life more pleasant by filling the mind of the dying 
with beautiful ideas of cheerfulness and resignation. 

"They whose minds, scorning the limitations of tne 
body, .... behold things which they predict. ... The 
worship of the gods is not to be imputed to chance or 
folly, but to the frequent appearance of the gods them- 
selves. Their voices have been often heard, and they 
have appeared in forms so visible that he who doubts 
it must be partly bereft of reason. * * * I dare not myself 
say anything in contradiction of oracles, nor do I 
approve it in others.' ' 

This great orator further says: "Of these descrip- 
tions are the gods and the oracles* — not such as are 
grounded on acquired signs, but those which arise from 
an inner and a divine source." If we laugh at pre- 
dictions, . . . if we turn to ridicule the Babylonians, 
and Caucasians, who believe in celestial signs and who 
observe the number and course of the stars; if, as I 
have said, we condemn all these for their superstition 
and folly, which, as they maintain, is founded upon the 
experience of fifty centuries and a half, let us, in that 
case, also call the belief of ages imposture; let us burn 
our records and say that everything was but imagina-* 
tion. 'But is the history of Greece a lie, when Apollo 
foretold the future through the oracles of the Lacede- 
monians and made other prophecies from the guardian 

BEDE, the Venerable.— (Born 673, Durham, England) 
ecclesiastical historian, author, commentator, and met- 
aphysician, exhibited his clairvoyance — his spiritual trust 
and spiritual life in dying. It was a calm, peaceful even- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 23 

ing in the spring of 735 — the evening of Ascension Day 
— and in his quiet cell in the monastery of Jarrow, as the 
historian informs us, an aged monk lay dying. With 
labored utterance he tried to dictate to his scribe, while 
a group of fair-haired Saxon youths stood sorrowfully 
by with tears, beseeching their dear master to rest. 

This retiring recluse was the most famous scholar of 
his day in Western Europe. Through him, Jarrow-on- 
the-Tyne had become the great center of literature and 
science, hundreds of eager students crowding yearly to 
its halls to learn of the illustrious Bede. He was deeply 
versed in the literature of Greece and Rome, — he had 
written on medicine, science, astronomy, rhetoric, and 
was an advocate of the noblest thoughts of his age. His 
"Ecclesiastical History' * is still the chief source of our 
knowledge of ancient England. But none of his studies 
were to him equal to the study of religion. None of 
his books were of so great importance as his " Com- 
ment aries" on spiritual subjects. Even then as he lay 
on his deathbed he was feebly dictating to his scribe his 
superior translation of St. John's Gospel. "I don't want 
my boys to read an error," he said, "or to work to no 
purpose after I am gone." 

And these young men seem to have deeply loved the 
gentle old man. An epistle has come down to us from 
his disciple, Cuthbert, telling of what had happened on 
this noted Ascension Day. 

"Our father and spiritual master," he says, "seems 
especially illumined, and has translated the gospel of St. 
John as far as 'what are these among so many.' " 

"He began to suffer much in his breath, and a swell- 



24 What Is Spiritualism? 

ing came in his feet; but seemingly inspired, he went on 
dictating to his scribe. 'Go on rapidly,' he said, 'I know 
not how long I shall hold out, or how soon the Master 
will send his angels for me.' 

"All night long he lay awake, and when day dawned 
he commanded us to write with all speed what he had 
begun. ... Angels are waiting. 

a i There remains but one chapter, Master,' said the 
anxious scribe, 'but it seems very hard for you to 
speak. ' 

" 'Nay, it is easy-— for the good angels give me 
strength/ replied Bede. 'Take up thy pen and write 
quickly. ' 

"Amid blinding tears the young scribe wrote on. 

" 'And now, father,' said he, as he eagerly caught 
the last words from the quivering lips, ' only one sentence 
remains.' Bede dictated it, and then looking up, ex- 
claimed, 'Oh, the brightness of their coming — how 
sweet their music!' 

" 'It is finished, master,' cried the youth, raising his 
head as the last word was written. 

" 'Ay, it is truly finished,' echoed the dying saint, his 
face the meanwhile seemingly illumined with more than 
spiritual brightness. 'Lift me up; place me at that 
window of my cell where I have so often prayed to the 
Father of lights, and to the ministering angels that do 
the Father's will.' And with these words his beautiful 
spirit passed on to meet those loved ones who inspired 
him to the last moment of his life." 

MINUCIUS FEUX, a Roman author (about 198 a. d.), 
in the "Octavius," Chap. XXIX, writes thus: "There are 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 25 

some insincere and vagrant spirits, degraded from their 
heavenly vigor by earthly stains and lusts. Now these 
spirits, after having lost the simplicity of their nature 
by being weighed down and immersed in vices for a sol- 
ace for their calamities, cease not, now that they are 
ruined themselves, to ruin others; and being depraved 
themselves, to infuse into others the error of their de- 
pravity. The poets know that these spirits are demons, 
and the philosophers discourse of them. The Magi also 
know that they are demons, and that whatever miracles 
they affect to perform, they do by means of bad demons. 
By their aspirations and communications they show their 
wondrous tricks, making either those things to appear 
which are not, or those things not to appear which are. 
Of those magicians, the first, both in eloquence and in 
deeds, is Sosthenes." 

ORIGEN, a celebrated bishop, and one of the most 
learned and illustrious that graced the early Christian 
centuries, wrote thus in his "De Principiis : ' ' "What 
shall we say of the Diviners, from whom — by the work- 
ing of those spirits (demons) who have the mastery over 
them— answers are given (to those who consult them) in 
carefully-constructed verses'? Those persons, too, whom 
they term Magi (magicians) frequently, by invoking 
demons over boys of tender years, have made them re- 
peat poetical compositions and give poetical improvisa- 
tions which were the admiration and amazement of all. 
Now these effects, we suppose, are brought about in the 
following manner: As. holy and immaculate souls after 
devoting themselves to God with all perfection and pu- 
rity, and preserving themselves from the contagion of 



26 What Is Spiritualism? 

evil spirits, and purifying themselves by long absti- 
nence, by these means they assume a portion of divinity 
and earn the grace of prophecy and other divine gifts. 
The result of this is that they are filled with the work- 
ing of those spirits to whose service they have subjected 
themselves." 

This erudite Christian Father, Origen, in writing 
against his atheist antagonist, Celsus (200 a. d.), says: 
"Celsus has compared the miracles (spiritual manifesta- 
tions) of Jesus, to the tricks of jugglers and the magic 
of Egyptians, and there would indeed be a resemblance 
between them if Jesus, like the practitioners of magic 
arts, had performed His works only for show or 
worldly gain." 

TERTULIAN, another celebrated Christian Father (date 
about 200 a. d.), in his "De Spectaculis," writing against 
the public shows, says: " Those who attend them become 
accessible to evil spirits," and states: "We have the 
case of the woman — the Lord himself is witness — who 
went to the theater and came back possessed. In the 
outcasting (by exorcism) accordingly, when the unclean 
creature was upbraided for having dared to attack a 
Christian believer, he firmly replied: 'And, in truth, 
I did it, and most righteously, for I found her in my 
domain. ' " 

In his "Apologeticus," Tertulian, in speaking of ob- 
sessing spirits, says: "They disclaim being unclean 
spirits, which yet we must hold as being indubitably 
proved by their relish for the blood and fumes and fetid 
carcasses of sacrificial animals, and even by the vile lan- 
guage of their ministers (mediums)." 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 27 

In his celebrated work, "De Anima," Tertulian fur- 
ther says: "We had a right to anticipate prophecies and 
the continuance of spiritual gifts, and we are now per- 
mitted to enjoy the gift of a prophetess. There is a sis- 
ter among us who possesses the faculty of revelation. 
Commonly, during religious service, she falls into a 
trance, holding then communion with angels, beholding 
Jesus himself, hearing divine mysteries explained, read- 
ing the hearts of some persons, and administering to 
such as require it. When the Scriptures are read, or 
psalms sung, spiritual beings minister visions to her. 
We were speaking of the soul once when our sister was 
in the spirit (entranced), and, the people departing, she 
then communicated to us what she had seen in her 
ecstacy, which was afterward closely inquired into and 
tested. She declared she 'had seen a soul in bodily 
shape, which appeared to be a spirit, neither empty nor 
formless, but so real and substantial that it might be 
touched. It wasi tender, shining, of the color of the air, 
but in everything resembling the human form. , " 

For three hundred years after the apostles, visions, 
apparitions, healing gifts and spiritual marvels abounded 
in all Christian countries. Believers, in the name of 
Christ, cast out demons, made the lame to walk and the 
blind to see. And all along down the centuries to the 
Reformation there were rifts in the clouds, lights from 
above, and messages from the invisible world. 

The Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha, and 
the Talmudic writings — all abound, more or less, in 
angel ministries, spirit communications, trances, visions, 
and apparitions. 



28 What Is Spiritualism? 

THE APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES of Jesus Christ 
were Spiritualists. Jesus chose tEem Because they had 
mediumistic or spiritual gifts. Paul heard the spirit 
voice. Both Paul and Peter had trances, as do the me- 
diums of today. And Jesus expressly said: "He that 
believeth in me, the works that I do, shall he do also, 
and greater works than these shall he do." Again he 
said: "These signs (various spiritual manifestations) 
shall follow them that believe." And these signs, gifts, 
and demonstrations of the future life did follow the early 
Christians for the first three centuries. Mosheim con- 
firms this view, saying: — 

"It is easier to conceive than to express how much 
the spiritual powers and the extraordinary divine gifts 
which the early Christians exercised on various occa- 
sions, contributed to extend the limits of the church. . . . 
Though the gift of foreign tongues appears to have grad- 
ually ceased, yet other spiritual gifts, healings, prophe- 
cies, visions, and the discerning of spirits with which 
God favored the rising church, were, as we learn from 
numerous testimonies of the ancients, continued to some 
extent for several centuries." 

IGNATIUS, native of Syria and pupil of Polycarp, 
declares that — 

"Some in the church most certainly have a divine 
knowledge of things to come. Some have visions ; others 
utter prophecies, and heal the sick by laying on of hands ; 
and others still speak in many tongues, bringing to light 
the secret things of men, angels, and expounding the mys- 
teries of God." 

Many confirmatory testimonies might be quoted from 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 29 

Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Apoliinaris, 
Cyprian, Lactantius, and others of the earlier Fathers. 
The Phrygian Montannus affirms with great emphasis 
that " these continuous prophecies, healing gifts, tongues, 
and visions are the divine inheritance of the true Chris- 
tian," quoting, in confirmation, the old Scripture words, 
' ' Where there is no vision the people perish. ' ' 

ST. ANTHONY, in one of his fiery sermons, exclaimed : — 

"We walk in the midst of demons, who give us evil 
thoughts; and also in the midst of good angels, who give 
us heavenly thoughts. When these latter are especially 
present, there is no disturbance, no contention, no clamor; 
but something so calm and gentle that it fills the soul 
with gladness. The Lord is my witness that after many 
tears and fastings I have been surrounded by a band of 
angels, good spirits, and joyfully joined in singing with 
them." 

TATIAN, in his orations against the Greeks, said: — 

"Your poetess, Sappho, was an impudent courtesan, 
and sung her own wantonness; but our women, full of 
faith in Christ, are chaste, and our virgins, at the distaff, 
utter divine oracles, see visions, and sing the holy words 
that are given them by inspiration. ' ' 

GOETHE states that he one day saw the exact counter- 
part of himself coming toward him. This was his double. 
When in the valley of meditation he had ' ' night visions. ' 9 

POPE saw an arm apparently come through the wall, 
and made inquiries after its owner. 

DR. JOHNSON heard his mother call his name in a clear 
voice, though she was at the time in another city. 

LOYOLA, lying wounded during the seige of Pampe- 



30 ' What Is Spiritualism? 

lima, saw, one who encouraged him to prosecute his 
mission* 

DESCARTES was followed by an invisible person, 
whose voice he heard urging him to continue his re- 
searches after truth. 

OLIVER CROMWELL, lying sleeping on his couch, saw 
the curtains open and a gigantic woman appear who told 
him he would become the greatest man in England. 

REN JOHNSON spent the watches of the night an inter- 
ested spectator of a crowd of Tartars, Turks, and Roman 
Catholics, who rose and spiritually fought round his arm- 
chair till sunrise. 

ROSTOCK, the physiologist, saw figures and faces, and 
there was one human face constantly before him for twen- 
ty-four hours, the features and headgear as distinct as 
those of a living person. 

RENVENUTO CELLINI, imprisoned at Rome, resolved to 
free himself by self-destruction, but was deterred by 
the apparition of a young woman of wondrous beauty, 
whose reproaches turned him from his purpose. 

T0RQUAT0 TASSO.— To those well read in Italian his- 
tory, Tasso 's remarkable visions are well known. He was 
called the epic poet of his age. Corresponding with his 
friends, he frequently spoke of his spiritual visitations. 
Good spirits strengthened and encouraged him, and bad 
ones vexed or tormented him ; in fact, like many mediums 
today, he was at times obsessed. Here is what he wrote 
to a friend: — 

"This day, being the last but one of the year, 
the brother of the Rev. Licino has brought me two 
letters from Vostra Signoria, but one disappeared 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 31 

after I had read it, and I think the Spirit (il folletto) has 
carried it away, because it is that letter in which he is 
mentioned. This is one of those miracles which I have 
frequently seen in the hospital (of St. Ann, which was 
his prison), on which account I feel certain that it is the 
work of some sorcerer (mago) and I have many other 
proofs of it, but particularly of a roll of bread taken 
from before me, visibly, half an hour before sunset (a 
ventrite ore) ; of a plate of fruit taken from before me 
the other day when that amiable young Pole so worthy 
of admiration came to see me; and of several other ar- 
ticles of food to which at other times the same thing oc- 
curred when no one entered my prison; of a pair of 
gloves, of letters, and of books taken out of boxes that 
were shut and found on the ground in the morning, and 
others that were never found, and I know not what be- 
came of them. 

' l I will not conceal my miseries, that you, signor, 
may help me with all your force, with all your diligence, 
and with all your good faith. Know then that besides 
these miracles of the folletta, which I can describe at 
length on some other occasion, there are many noctur- 
nal terrors, for being awake, small flames (flamette) seem 
to appear in the air; and sometimes my eyes sparkle in 
such a manner that I have feared losing my sight — sparks 
have flown out of them visibly. I have seen likewise in 
the middle of the head of the bed, shadows of mice which 
from any natural causes could not happen in that place; 
and often I have heard whistles, tinklings, bells, and the 
sound of a clock which has often struck one." 

In a letter by Torquato Tasso, 1544, he says: — 



32 What Is Spiritualism,? 

"You know that I have been ill and have never been 
entirely cured; perhaps I have greater need of an ex- 
orciser than of a physician, because the illness is owing 
to magical art. Compassion ought to be felt for my long 
suffering. Of the folletto (spirit) I will still tell you 
some more particulars. The little thief has robbed me 
of many scudi; I don't know how many, because I do 
not keep any account of them as misers do, but perhaps 
they amount to twenty. He overturns my books, opens 
my boxes, steals my keys that I cannot defend myself from 
him. I am unhappy at all times, but most at night.' f 
(See Baron Seymour Kirkup's letter, Florence, May 26, 
1862. S. Magasin, London.) 

Again he writes on the same subject: "I cannot de- 
fend anything from my enemies, nor from the demons 
except my will, with which I will never consent to learn 
anything from them or their followers, or have any fa- 
miliarity with them or with magicians. ' ' 

After more than seven years ' confinement, he suddenly 
recovered from his affliction, and was released. He at- 
tributed his recovery to the spirit aid given him by the 
Virgin Mary in a vision, which he thus describes: 
" Amidst so many terrors and pains, there appeared to 
me, in the air, the image of the glorious Virgin, with her 
Son in her arms, encircled with clouds of many colors, 
so that I might by trust and faith in her and to minister- 
ing spirits of grace, know of their power and of a future 
that never dies." 

The Roman Catholic Church has never denied the 
miracles- — the spiritual manifestations of the ages. All 
the religious movements of the past, originated in spirit- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 33 

ual manifestations. Take, as a sample, George Fox, the 
founder of Quakerism; Ann Lee, the founder of Shaker- 
ism; the Wesleys, founders of Methodism, and Sweden- 
borg, the founder of the Swedenborgian or New Church. 
Swedenborg held open intercourse with the spiritual 
world during the period of twenty-seven years. The 
world's religious epoch-builders were all possessed of 
marvelous spiritual gifts. Elder Frederick Evans, a 
distinguished American Shaker preacher, used to often 
say, ' ' Quakerism began in the spirit, but is ending in the 
flesh and in the worldliness of the world. ' ' 

SIR JAMES MACINTOSH says of Fox's Journal: "It is 
one of the most extraordinary and instructive narratives 
in the world — which no reader of competent judgment 
can peruse without revering the eminent virtue of the 
writer. ' ' 

This Journal reminds us of, and is a fitting compan- 
ion to, Swedenborg 's Diary. The following statements 
are condensed f rom it : 

GEORGE FOX, born in July, 1624, was naturally, when 
young, of rather grave deportment. When about nine- 
teen, he became annoyed by the frivolous and profane 
conversation of the young, and spending a night in 
prayer, he heard a voice saying : ' ' Thou seest how young 
people go together in vanity and old people into their 
graves ; thou must forsake, be a stranger to all, and be 
guided by the spirit. ' ' 

Traveling to London, and listening by the way to 
many preachers, he remarks : " I was afraid of them, for 
I was sensible that they did not possess what they pro- 
fessed. r ' After relating to the clergymen that at times 



34 What Is Spiritualism ? 

he " heard voices and felt the presence of spirits' ' one 
of these jolly old clergymen of the Anglican Church told 
him to " smoke tobacco and sing psalms." Another ad- 
vised him to "go to a surgeon and lose some blood." 
Turning to the Dissenters, he "found them also blind 
guides. ' ' 

Wandering often in quiet places, fasting frequently 
with Bible in hand, meditating and battling with doubts 
and temptations, he at last ' ' fell into a trance that lasted 
fourteen days, and many who came to see him during 
that time, wondered to see his countenance so changed, 
for he not only had the appearance of a dead man, but 
seemed to them to be really dead. But after this, his 
mind was relieved of its sorrows, so that he could have 
wept night and day with tears of joy, in humility and 
brokenness of heart. In this state," he says, "I saw 
into that which is without end, and things which cannot 
be uttered, and of the greatness and infiniteness of the 
love of God." 

When at Mansfield, he "was struck blind," so that he 
could not see ; after which, he says, •' ' I went to a village 
and many people accompanied me. And as I was sitting 
in a house full of people, I cast my eyes upon a woman 
and discerned in her an unclean (undeveloped) spirit. 
Moved to speak sharply, I told her she was under the 
influence of an unclean spirit. Having the gift of dis- 
cerning spirits, I many times saw the states and condi- 
tions of people, and could try their spirits." 

He frequently healed the sick by laying on of hands. 
To Eichard Myer, who had long had a very lame, rheu- 
matic arm, he said: "Stand upon thy legs and stretch 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 35 

out thine arm." He did so, and Fox exclaimed: "Be it 
known unto you and to all people that this day you are 
healed/ ' Although Macauley sneers at Fox's casting out 
devils and performing miracles, many remarkable cases 
of this kind are recorded in his Journal, and were wit- 
nessed by thousands of people. In his "Life Sketches' ' 
he uses "Lord," "angels," and "spirits" interchange- 
ably, as do the old biblical writers. 

"Coming to within a mile of Litchfield, where shep- 
herds were keeping their sheep, I was commanded," he 
says, "by the Lord to put off my shoes. I stood still, for 
it was winter, and the word of the Lord was like a fire in 
me. So I put off my shoes and left them with the shep- 
herds, and the poor shepherds trembled and were aston- 
ished. Then I walked on about a mile, and as soon as I 
was within the city, the word of the Lord came to me 
again, saying, 'Cry, Woe unto the bloody city of Litch- 
field!' So I went up and down the streets, crying with 
a loud voice, 'Woe to the bloody city of Litchfield!' It 
being market day, I went into the market place, and to 
and fro in the several parts of it, and made stands, cry- 
ing as before, 'Woe to the bloody city of Litchfield!' 
And no one laid hands on me ; but as I went thus crying 
through the streets, there seemed to be a channel of 
blood running down the streets, and the market place 
appeared like a pool of blood. When I had declared what 
the spirit put upon me, I felt myself clear. I went out 
of the town in peace, and, returning to the shepherds, 
gave them some money and took my shoes of them. 

"After this, a deep consideration came upon me. Why, 
or for what reason, should I be sent against that city and 



36 What Is Spiritualism? 

call it 'the bloody cityV But afterward I came to un- 
derstand that in the Emperor Diocletian's time a thou- 
sand Christians were martyred here in Litchfield. So I 
was to go without my shoes, through the channel of their 
blood in the market place, that I might raise up the me- 
morial of the blood of those martyrs which had been 
shed a thousand years before. The sense of their blood 
was upon me." 

These were among the common sayings of the in- 
spired George Fox while preaching : ' ' Verily, I heard a 
voice ; ' 9 ' ' The spirit was upon me ; " "I saw in visions ; ' ' 
"The prophecies were open to me." "When, at a meet- 
ing of Friends in Derby, there was such a mighty power 
of spirit felt," says Fox, "that the people were shaken 
and many mouths were opened to testify that the angels 
of God do minister unto mortal men. ' ' 

The original Quakers, like the post-Apostolic Chris- 
tians, were Spiritualists; but our latter-day Quakers 
denying or deadening their spiritual gifts by selfishness 
and worldliness, have crystalized, and so are a dying re- 
ligious sect. 

JOHN WESLEY, the founder of Methodism, was a firm 
believer in the spiritual phenomena. 

In the old Wesley residence, Epworth, England, 
marked spiritual manifestations occurred for years. An 
account of these was written by the Eev. Mr. Hooley, of 
Haxey, by Dr. Adam Clarke, by a writer in the Armini- 
an Magazine, and others. It is pitiable that modern 
Methodist preachers do not mention them as among the 
present demonstrations of a future existence. From a 
large volume by John Wesley, entitled "The Invisible 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 37 

World, ' ' published over a hundred years ago, I make the 
following quotations : 

"What pretense have I to deny well-attested facts 
because I cannot comprehend them! It is true that 
the English in general, indeed, most of the men of 
learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of witches 
and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. I am 
sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity 
of entering my solemn protest against this violent 
compliment which so many that believe the Bible 
pay to those who do not believe it. I owe them no such 
service. I take knowledge these are at the bottom of 
the outcry which has been raised, and with such inso- 
lence spread throughout the nation ; and in direct op- 
position, not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the 
wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. They 
well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the 
giving up of witchcraft (the control of undeveloped spir- 
its) is in effect, giving up the Bible. And they know, on 
the other hand, that if but one account of men with sep- 
arate spirits be admitted, their whole castle in the air 
(deism, atheism, and materialism) falls to the ground. 
One of the capital objections to all the accounts, which I 
have known urged over and over, is this, 'Did you ever 
see an apparition yourself?' No, nor did I ever see a 
murder, yet I believe there is such a thing. Yea, and 
in one place or another murder is committed every day. 
Therefore I cannot, as a reasonable being, deny the fact, 
though I never saw it, and perhaps never may. The 
testimony of unexceptionable witnesses fully convinces 
me of both the one and the other. With my last breath 



38 What Is Spiritualism? 

will I bear testimony against giving np to infidels one 
of the greatest proofs of the invisible world — I mean that 
of apparitions confirmed by the testimony of all ages." 
(Page 2.) 

ELIZABETH HOBSON was born in Snnderland in the 
year 1774. Her father dying when she was three or 
four years old, her uncle, Thomas Eea, a pious man, 
brought her up as his daughter. She was a serious child 
and grew up in the fear of God ; yet she had a deep and 
sharp conviction of sin until she was about sixteen years 
of age, when she found peace with God, and from that 
time the whole tenor of her behavior was suitable to her 
profession. On Wednesday, May 23, 1788, and the three 
following days, I talked with her at large. But it was 
with difficulty that I could prevail upon her to speak. 
The substance of what she said was as follows: 

" 'From my childhood, when any of my neighbors 
died, whether men, women, or children, I used to see 
them just before, or when they died, and I was not at 
all frightened, it was so common ; indeed, I did not then 
know they were dead. I saw many of them by day and 
many of them by night. Those that came when it was 
dark brought light with them. I observed that little 
children and many grown persons had a bright, glorious 
light around them, but many had a gloomy, dismal light 
and a dusky cloud over them.' " (Page 3.) 

"Perhaps the glorified spirits of just men made per- 
fect, may, like the angels, be employed in carrying on 
the purposes of God in the world. It is said of them, 
'His servant shall serve 11™.' " (Heb. 22.) 

"Possibly, as ministering spirits, they may minister 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 39 

unto the heirs of salvation, and watch over the interests 
of those who on earth were dear to them, either by the 
ties of nature or religion. One of them was employed to 
converse with the Apostle John and explain to him the 
wonderful things he saw in his visions." (Rev. 22.) 

"The sentiment for which we are pleading, has the 
sanction of the highest antiquity. Philo speaks of it as 
a received notion of the Jews that the souls of good men 
officiate as ministering spirits. The Pagans, in the earli- 
est ages, imagined that the spirits of their deceased 
friends continued near them, and were frequently en- 
gaged in performing acts of kindness, hence the deifica- 
tion of their kings and heroes, and the custom of invok- 
ing the names of those who were dear to them.'* 

"Cicero makes a better use of the doctrine, when he 
endeavors to comfort a father for the loss of a son by the 
thought that he might still be engaged in performing 
kind offices for him. And it is not improbable that the 
idea, though' perverted by the heathen for the purpose 
of idolatry, might, like the doctrine of the immortality 
of the soul, be derived from a divine source." (Page 30.) 

"A few years ago, a gentleman of most correct char- 
acter and serious carriage, who resided near St. James 
and lived very happily with his wife, was taken sick and 
died, which so affected his dear left companion that she 
sickened also and kept her bed. 

"In about ten days after her husband's death, as she 
was sitting upright in bed, and a friend and near rela- 
tion sitting near her, she looked steadfastly toward the 
foot of the bed, and said with a cheerful voice, 'My 
dear, I will be with you in two hours. ' The gentlewoman 



40 What Is Spiritualism? 

that was with her (and who firmly attested the same as 
most true) said to her, ' Child, to whom do you speak!' 
(for she saw nobody). She answered, 'It is my hus- 
band, who came to call me hence, and I am going to 
him;' which surprised her friend very much, who, 
thinking she was a little light-headed, called in someone 
else, to whom she spoke very cheerfully and told the 
same story; but before the two hours were expired she 
went on and up to her dear companion, to be happy to- 
gether forever, to the great surprise of all present. 

"The soul receives not its perfections or activity 
from the body, but can live and act out of the body ; yea, 
much better, having then its perfect liberty, divested 
of that heavy incumbrance which only clogged and fet- 
tered it. 'Doubtless,' saith Tertulian, 'when the soul is 
separated from the body it comes out of darkness into 
its own pure and perfect light, and quickly finds itself 
a substantial being, able to act freely in that light and 

participate in heavenly joys.' " (Page 48.) 

# # * 

The former historical references prove that the facts 
and the fundamental truths of Spiritualism were in re- 
motest antiquity, similar to those of today. And why 
not? — since there is but one God, one law, one Divine 
purpose, one historical continuity, one brotherhood, ' ' one 
spirit, ' ' with, as Paul says, ' ' a diversity of gifts. ' ' 

A traveler in nearly all latitudes 'neath the northern 
star, or summering under the Southern Cross, I have 
seen neither races nor tribes, white, brown-skinned, or 
black, without sympathy for their kindred — without 
cemeteries for their dead — without altars, however 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 41 

rude, for their worship, and without dreams, appari- 
tions, visions, and methods of some sort for communi- 
cating wth the dead. Uncouth, vague, if not rude and 
vulgar to us, they may have been ; yet, they foreshadowed 
the soul's immortality, and brought to sorrowing, trust- 
ing souls that peace of mind that passeth understand- 
ing. 

PROF. A. B HYDE, D. D., author and professor of Greek 
in the Denver University, says in his work on Method- 
ism: "During these years, strange ' noises' were heard 
at the Epworth parsonage. They were heard like the 
whistling of the wind outside. Latches were lifted; win- 
dows rattled, and all metallic substances rang tunefully. 
In a room where people talked, sang, or made any noise, 
its hollow tones gave all the louder accompaniment. 
There was a sound of doors slamming, of curtains draw- 
ing, of shoes dancing without a wearer. When any one 
wished to pass a door, its latch was politely lifted for 
him before they touched it. A trencher, untouched upon 
the table, danced to unheard music. At family prayers 
the 'goblin' gave thundering knocks at the amen, and 
when Mr. Wesley prayed for the King, the disloyal being 
pushed him violently in anger. The stout rector shamed 
it for annoying children, and dared it to meet him 
alone in his study, and pick up the gauntlet there. Many, 
then and since, have tried to explain the cause. It was 
thought to be a spirit strayed beyond its home and clime, 
as an Arabian locust has been found in Hyde Park. Of 
such things this writer has no theory. There are more 
things in heaven and earth than his knowledge of phi- 
losophy can compass. Only he is sure that outside of 



42 What Is Spiritualism? 

this world lies a spiritual domain, and it is not strange 
that there should be intercommunication. 1 ' 

The noises were first heard one winter's day in 1715 
by Mrs. Susanna Wesley, John Wesley's mother. She 
was in the bedroom and was startled suddenly by a clat- 
tering of the windows and doors, followed by several dis- 
tinct knocks, three by three. At the same time her maid 
servant, Nancy Marshall, heard in the dining-room some- 
thing that sounded like the groans of a dying man. 

The young women of the family became greatly 
alarmed. Mrs. Wesley informed her husband, Samuel 
Wesley, of the circumstances and insinuated her belief 
in their supernatural character. 

ROBERT SOUTHEY, in his "Life of the Wesleys," when 
speaking of these spiritual manifestations, states that they 
continued in the Wesley family for some thirty years, 
commencing in 1716. Dr. Priestly, the discoverer of oxy- 
gen, speaks of the Wesleyan phenomena as among the 
most remarkable in history. There is a record of them 
in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica by Samuel 
Babcock. Here is the closing paragraph: — 

"I know not what became of the ghost of Epworth; 
unless, considered as a prelude to the noise Mr. John 
Wesley made on a more ample stage, it ceased to speak 
when he began to act." 

John Wesley 's journal contains a number of most 
thrilling accounts of spiritual phenomena. Some con- 
sidered them miraculous, and a proof of Wesley's 
divine mission. It is a pity that so many Methodist 
preachers of today have so " fallen from grace" — the 
grace and wisdom of Wesley — as to deny present spirit- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 43 

ual manifestations. It is a further pity, if not a sort of 
religious dishonesty, that the later biographers of John 
Wesley omit direct reference to these marvelous phe- 

DR. ADAM CLARK, the distinguished Methodist Com- 
mentator, was a Spiritualist. In commenting upon Saul 
and Samuel (see his Commentaries, pp. 298, 299), he 
nomena, in which the Wesleys were firm believers. 
says : — 

"I believe Samuel did actually appear to Saul; and 
that he was sent to warn this infatuated king of his ap- 
proaching death, that he might have an opportunity to 
make his peace with his Maker/ ' 

"I believe there is a supernatural or spiritual world 
in which HUMAN spirits, both good and bad, live in a 
state of consciousness." 

"I believe that any of these spirits may, according to 
the order of God, in the laws of their place of residence, 
have intercourse with this world and become visible to 
mortals." 

EMANUEL SWEDENBQRG, the son of a Swedish clergy- 
man, announced in the year 1743 that he had come into 
spiritual converse with a world of spirits, and he soon 
began publishing their revelations, and detailing their 
conversations with him. He declared that he had seen 
and conversed with some of the apostles, especially Paul, 
with Luther and others dwelling in a spiritual state of 
existence. "I have," he says, "for these twenty years 
or more, conversed daily with spirits and angels. They 
have human forms, the appearance of men, as I have a 
thousand times seen; for I have spoken with them as a 
man with other men — often with several together — and 



44 What Is Spiritualism? 

I have seen nothing in the least to distinguish them from 
other men. . . . Lest any one should call this an illusion, 
or imaginary perception, it is to be understood that I 
am accustomed to see them when perfectly wide awake, 
and in the full exercise of my observation. The speech of 
an angel or a spirit sounds like and as loud as that of 
a man; but it is not heard by the bystanders. The rea- 
son is that the speech of an angel or a spirit finds en- 
trance, first, into a man's thoughts, and reaches his or- 
gans of hearing from within.' ' 

In 1758 a revolution was attempted in Sweden. 
On the twenty-third of July in that year Swedenborg 
was in Stockholm. On that day Count Brahe and 
Baron Horn were executed in the capital. Sweden- 
borg did not lose sight of Brahe when he was be- 
yond the axe, as the following passage in Scriptural 
Diary shows: — 

" Brahe was beheaded at ten o'clock in the morning, 
and he spoke with me at ten at night; that is to say, 
twelve hours after the execution. He was with me al- 
most without interruption for several days. In two days ' 
time he began to return to his former life, which con- 
sisted in loving worldly things ; and after three days he 
became as he was before in the world, and was carried 
into the evils he had made his own before he died." 

PROFESSOR SHERER relates this: "Conversing with a 
companion one evening in Stockholm about the spiritual 
work, one of those present, as a test, said: 'Tell us who 
will die first.' Swedenborg at first refused to answer. 
Then, after seeming to be for a time in silent and pro- 
found meditation, he replied: 'Olof Olofsohn will die 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 45 

tomorrow morning at forty-five minutes past four 
o'clock.' This prediction greatly excited the company, and 
one gentleman, a friend of Olof Olofsohn, resolved to go 
on the following morning at the time mentioned by Swed- 
enborg to the house of Olof Olofsohn, in order to see 
whether Swedenborg's prediction was* fulfilled. On the 
way thither he met the well-known servant of Olofsohn, 
who told him that his master had just then died — a fit of 
apoplexy had seized him and had suddenly put an end to 
his life. The clock in Olofsohn 's dwelling apartment 
stopped at the very moment in which he had expired, 
and the hand pointed at the time. 

SHAKESPEARE.— Poets are naturally Spiritualists, and 
the most striking and dramatic portions of Shakes- 
peare 's writings depend upon characters drawn from the 
world of spirits. Physical phenomena are but the alpha- 
bet of Spiritualism. Shakespeare of Avon evidently be- 
lieved in the relations that he instituted between the ma- 
terial and the spiritual world. In his Midsummer 
Night's Dream, he makes the fairies sing: 

"Now it is the time of 'night 
That the graves are gaping wide, 

Every one lets forth his sprite, 
In the church-way paths to glide." 

And again, Hamlet and Horatio say: 

Hamlet. "What hour now? 

Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve." 

• * «< 

Hamlet. "Angels and ministers of grace defend us! 
Be thou a Spirit of health, or goblin damned, 



46 What Is Spiritualism? 

Bring with thee airs of heaven or blasts from hell — 
Be thy intents wicked or charitable, 

Thou comest in such questionable shape 
That I will speak to thee:" 

And again in Hamlet, the stricken murderer swears : 
"If I stand here I saw him — 
. . The times have been, 

That when the brains were out, the man was dead, 
And there an end; but now they rise again" 
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy." 

ANN LEE, honored by her admirers with the appella- 
tions, "Sainted Mother/' and "Sister," overshadowed 
by angels of purity, and enlightened by the descent of 
celestial influences, received her heavenly commission in 
1758, near Manchester, England. Her visions were re- 
markable; her prophecies, oracles. The physical mani- 
festations, relating to herself and adherents, consisted of 
These exercises and spiritual gifts called down upon 
them the hostility of the Church. Priests and magis- 
trates, who have ever sought to gag the truth, dungeon 
conscience, and impeach the inductions of science, 
charged them with disorder and Sabbath-breaking. The 
religious authorities slandered, fined, and imprisoned 
them. 

In 1774, inspired by the "Christ of the new order," 
she received a revelation to immigrate to America. A 
few pure-purposed, loving souls clustered around her 
as a central teacher directed by angel ministers. 

This new church — the "Shakers"— much resembles 
the Essenes of Philo's time. The Nazarene had but 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 47 

three hundred followers when martyred upon Calvary. 
The increase of the Shaker fraternity has not been 
rapid, but is permanent. Holding that God is dual, 
eternal, Father and Mother in deific manifestations, they 
practically teach the strict equality of the sexes. "First 
pure, then peaceable, ' ' they profess to live in the ' ' resur- 
rection state," and preach to those "without" — the Gen- 
tiles—to raise few and better children. They all believe 
in spirit manifestations and revelations. 

ELDER E. W. EVANS wrote Robert Owen, in 1856, that, 
"seven years previous to the advent of Spiritualism, the 
Shakers had predicted its rise and progress, the phenom- 
ena precisely as they have occurred, and that the Shaker 
order is the great medium betwixt this world and the 
world of spirits. . . . Physical manifestations, visions, 
revelations, prophecies, and gifts of various kinds, of 
which voluminous records are kept, and, indeed, 'divers 
operations, but all of the same spirit,' were as common 
among us as gold in California." 

LOUIS XVI, benevolent and reformatory, has been 
styled "noblest of all the reigning Bourbons." "Coming 
to his own, his own received him not. ' ? Arraigned, tried 
by a boisterous assembly, he was heartlessly condemned 
to the block. Seeing the courier sent to inform him of 
his fate, he exclaimed — "I know it all! I know it all! 
Last night I saw a female form clothed in stainless white, 
walking these solitary apartments. "When the reigning 
powers of the throne behold a vision of this character, 
they know that prince or king is to be dethroned and 
slain. Tell my accusers to prepare to meet me in the 
land of the just!" 



48 What Is Spiritualism? 

SHELLEY — This inspired and ether ealized soul of 
poetry and worshipper at the shrine of nature, struggled, 
considering the world's imperfections, to make himself 
believe in a sort of atheistic materialism, and no doubt be- 
came stung to the quick by the taunting words perpetu- 
ally hurled at him by the ecclesiastics of the church. 
Their tongues termed him an atheist and his only resort 
for rest was in meditating upon the gorgeous glories of 
nature and the realms of the invisible. At times of 
mortal distress he fell into ecstacies and had visons. 

In his revolt of Islam, Prometheus, Queen Mab and 
Adonais, his passionate language was but the wrestling 
of a broader, higher thought than his time could compre- 
hend—wrestlings against materialism — wrestlings with a 
burning desire for fellowship with the departed. 

In a sort of semi-trance he saw the soul of Adonais 
(his friend Keats) : 

"Outsoar the shadow of our night; 
Envy and calumny, and hate and pain, 

And that unrest which men miscall delight, 
Can touch him not and torture not again. 

* * « 

He lives, he wakes — 'tis Death is dead, not he; 
Mourn not for Adonais. — Thou young Dawn, 

Turn all thy dew to splendor, for from thee 
The spirit thou lamentest is not gone. 

Again : 

"My soul is an enchanted hoat, 

Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float 
Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing; 

And thine doth like an angel sit 
Besides the helm conducting it!" 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 49 

The record stands undisputed that Swedenborg, just 
before his departure to spirit life in 1772, prophesied that 
in about eighty years, wonderful phenomena of a spirit- 
ual nature would occur on the earth. The fourscore 
years expired in 1852. 

In 1846, some two or three years before the faintest 
translatable echo from the summer-land had reached an 
American ear, A. J. Davis stated, and it stands recorded 
in his "Divine Revelations ' ' (p. 175), that the shining 
intelligences of the second sphere of existence were soon 
to hold tangible communion with the people of earth. 
These were his prophetic words — "It is a truth that the 
spirits of the higher spheres commune with persons in 
the body by influx, although they are unconscious of 
the fact. This truth will ere long present itself in the 
form of a living demonstration. . . . And the world will 
hail with delight the ushering in of the era ! ' ' 

He is the author of some twenty-seven volumes upon 
the Harmonial Philosophy. 

THE DAWN OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM 

THE FOX SISTERS — Prophecy is a natural law. Coming 
events cast their shadows before, ghostly apparitions, 
materialized forms, weird visions, noises, rappings and 
serious disturbances have troubled people from remotest 
times. Of this, history is in evidence. Later, the Wes- 
ley family, the Dr. Phelps family and the Shaker families 
were perturbed by strange unaccountable noises. Still 
later, these noises — occult intonations— were heard in the 
Fox family as early as 1848 and regarded as torment- 



50 * What Is Spiritualism? 

ing scourges. Neither prayer nor curses could hush 
the sounds into silence. 

It was evident to every thoughtful listener that the 
causes of these rappings were invisible. But what or 
who caused them? 

That was a solemn inquiry. Finally, little Katie Fox, 
eleven years of age, was no doubt influenced to say: 
" What are you? Who are you? — Eap now as many times 
as I do." 

Various numbers were named by the sisters, the 
mother and others, and the numbers specified were re- 
peated without a failure. The key was discovered! 
There was intelligence behind the persisting noises. 
This was March 31, 1848. 

THE POSTS, a family of Hicksite Quakers, hearing of 
the communications, invited the Fox sisters to their home 
in Eochester, N. Y. These excellent people almost im- 
mediately became converts. Writing to Horace Greeley, 
editor of the New York Tribune, of the phenomena and 
the messages, the sisters were invited to New York where 
Horace Greeley, Charles Partridge and others attended 
the Eev. Edwin H. Chapin's church. The phenomena 
were marvelous and thrillingly interesting, spreading 
like wind-swept prairie fires. From the muffled rappings 
came trances, visions and multiplied manifestations. Al- 
though they demonstrated a future life and urged the 
people to live nobler and purer Christ-like lives, the 
priests pronounced them the works of the devil. 

JUDGE J. W. EDMONDS was born in Hudson, N. Y., 1799, 
and in 1819 entered the law office of ex-President Martin 
Van Buren. In 1831 he was elected a New York State 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 51 

Senator. In 1843 he was appointed the Sing Sing State 
Prison Inspector. In 1845 he was appointed Circuit Judge. 
In 1847 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, and 
finally in 1851 took his seat upon the bench in the Court of 
Appeals. In the discharge of his judicial duties and fear- 
less independent decisions, he was often compared to Sir 
Matthew Hale. Theologically, he was considered an ag- 
nostic or a materialist, doubting any future existence. 
Hearing of the spiritual intercourse, he was inclined 
to treat it with dignified disfavor. But in November, 
1850, his wife died and he began to think more seriously 
of a future life, and reasons for faith in it. On one occa- 
sion he was alone reading, about midnight, when he 
heard the voice of his wife distinctly. To use his own 
words, "I started as if I had been shot." He looked 
around him; his lamp was lighted and the fire burning 
cheerfully in the grate. Studying and analyzing the 
operations of his mind, he distinctly heard the voice again. 
It was a new experience. He began from this time to in- 
vestigate the subject candidly, and even critically through 
various mediums; and near the close of 1851 he became 
quite fully developed himself as a medium for visions, 
allegorical pictures, and direct communications from the 
spirit world written through his own hand. His daughter 
Laura also became a writing medium, and a trance me- 
dium with the gift of tongues. The Judge now openly 
avowed his Spiritualism, lectured upon it in public, and 
wrote articles for it in the American and foreign press. 
He says that "Spiritualism has deepened my faith in 
God, and the spiritual life and teachings of Christ. It 
has also inspired me with the most kindly Christian feel- 



52 What Is Spiritualism 9 

ings toward all conscientious religionists of whatever 
name or party." The pride, as he was, of the New 
York bar for years, a jurist of unimpeachable integrity 
and keen discernment, as well as an authority on interna- 
tional law, Judge Edmonds was not only a Spiritualist, 
but a spiritual medium with fine clairvoyant gifts. Sit- 
ting in his seance by the hour on Thursday evenings, and 
other evenings, I listened with intensest delight to the 
recital of his visions, as exalted as those of Peter or Paul, 
or of the inspired ecstatics appearing in the pre-Constan- 
tine period. 

PROF. S. B. BRITTAN,— A distinguished Universalist 
clergyman, classic essayist, linguist, editor of the 
Univercoelum and Spiritual Philosopher published in 
1848, compiler of Brittan's and Richmond's Discussion, 
author of the Shekinah volumes, "Man and His Eela ? 
tions," etc., and was a prominent Spiritualist lecturer. 

PROF. ROBERT HARE, chemist, physicist, and scien- 
tist, was born in Philadelphia, Jan. 17, 1781. In 
early life he became a student, in the physical sciences, 
and before twenty years of age, joined the Chemical So- 
ciety of Philadelphia. He discovered a year or two after- 
wards, the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe; named by Pro- 
fessor Silliman, the compound blow-pipe. He was the 
first to render irridium and platinum fusible in any con- 
siderable quantity, and also strontium without any alloy 
of mercury. He also proved that steam was not conden- 
sible when combined in equal parts with the vapor of 
carbon. In 1818 Dr. Hare was appointed Professor of 
Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, holding 
the office till he resigned in 1847. His course of instruc- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 53 

tion was marked by great originality, and crowned with 
many discoveries. In 1816 he invented the calorimotor. 
Professor Faraday acknowledged the great superiority 
of Dr. Hare 's instrument for intensifying heat. He was 
a frequent contributor to the American Journal of 
Science, and he invented machinery for the purpose of 
exposing the spiritual phenomena. But through careful 
and protracted study and investigation, he became a con- 
firmed Spiritualist, though he had previously been not 
merely an agnostic, but a downright materialist, believing 
in no hereafter. A few years after writing his great 
work in defense of Spiritualism, he said:— 

"Far from abating my confidence in the inferences 
respecting the agencies of the spirits of deceased mor- 
tals, in the manifestations of which I have given an 
account in my work, I have had even more striking evi- 
dence of that agency than those given in the working 
question.' ' 

JUDGE EDMONDS, in a letter dated New York, Feb. 12, 
1861, says: "I received a letter from Dr. Hare express- 
ing a wish to see me on the subject of Spiritualism;. He 
came and spent several days with me. Our investiga- 
tions were somewhat different. He investigated as a 
scientist and a natural philosopher, and I as a lawyer, 
but we both arrived at the same result. And what was 
singular was that we had both of us gone into the in- 
vestigation of what we thought was a humbug, and which 
we were confident we could detect and expose, and this 
without any preconcert between us, and without either of 
us knowing the purpose of the other. 



54 What Is Spiritualism? 

"He told me that he had been all his life an enemy of 
the Christian religion, a denier of the possibility of reve- 
lation, a disbeliever in God, or in our immortality. He 
fold me that he had gone so far as to collate and publish 
offensive extracts from the Bible in order to impeach the 
validity of ihe so-called revelations. He brought the sub- 
ject of Spiritualism before the American Scientific Asso- 
ciation, meeting in Albany, and would have been treated 
rudely by his compeers had it not been for the interf er- 
once of Agassiz." 

This distinguished scientist, Agassiz, prevailed upon 
them, says the Judge, ' ' on account of his high character 
and important scientific attainments to hear what he had 
to say. ... I have said to him, 'Dr. Hare has all his life 
been an honest, sincere, but inveterate disbeliever in the 
Christian religion. Later in life Spiritualism comes to 
him, and in a short time works in his mind the convic- 
tion of the existence of God, and of his own immortality. r 
. . . He had reasoned thus: If my sister lives, as she 
has proven to me, I shall live also, and there is an immor- 
tality, and if an immortality, there must be, — there is a 
God. 'But,' said he, 'Judge, I do not stop there; I be- 
lieve in revelation, and in a revelation through Jesus of 
Nazareth. I am a Christian V . . . That evening I at- 
tended one of our public meetings with him. We both 
addressed it, and he made a public avowal of his belief 
in the revelations of the Bible, and in the Christian re- 
ligion. ' ' 

HORACE GREELEY, editor of the New York Tribune,, 
said : 

"I have sat with three others around a small table, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 55 

with every one of our eight hands lying plainly, palpably 
on the table, and heard rapid writing with a pencil on 
paper, which, perfectly white, we had just previously 
placed under the table ; and have the next minute picked 
up that paper with a sensible, straight-forward message 
of twenty to fifty words fairly written thereon. . . . 
Yet, I am quite confident that none of the persons pres- 
ent, who were visible to mortal eyes, wrote it." 

REV. THEODORE PARKER'S testimony : 

This individual, so self -poised and towering in intel- 
lect, was the man-colossus among American clergy. As- 
cended, he is living and speaking still, through our media. 
Assuming that revelation was no green-house exotic, but 
perpetual as cycling ages, and that inspiration, native to 
the postures of the soul, is cognate with the races, he prop- 
agated a religious philosophy that will stream in in- 
creasing beauty through all the future eras of free 
thought. His grave is a Mecca under the mellow skies 
of Florence. Considered mentally he was thoroughly 
self-conscious of his greatness. 

"Tend this head well," says Mirabeau, on his death- 
bed; "it is the greatest head in France." "God gave 
me great powers," says the expiring Parker, "and I 
have but half used them." The coincidence was singu- 
lar, while saying in his last hours — ' ' There are two The- 
odore Parkers, the one here sick and struggling, and the 
other at work at home. ' ' There was a friend reading at 
the time, one of his great sermons in Music Hall, Boston. 
There were "two Theodore Parkers" — the shadow and 
the substance, for man is dual, aye, trinal. The papers 
thought him "wandering a little." The Jews evidently 



56 What Is Spiritualism? 

thought Paul was "wandering" when "caught up to the 
third heaven,' ' not knowing whether he was in the body 
or out. 

In thought and speech, relative to the Spiritual Phi- 
losophy, he was manly and heroic. In notes made for 
a sermon we find the following: 

"In 1856 it seems more likely that Spiritualism would 
become the religion of America, than in 156 that Chris- 
tianity would become the religion of the Roman empire, 
or in 756 that Mohammedanism would be that of the 
Arabian populations: 

"1. It has more evidence for its wonders than any 
historic form of religion hitherto. 

"2. It is thoroughly democratic, with no hierarchy; 
but inspiration is open to all. 

"3. It is no fixed fact — has no punctum< stans, but is 
a punctum fluens. 

"4. It admits all the truths of religion and morality 
in all the world-sects. ' ' 

"Shall we know our friends again? For my own 
part I cannot doubt it; least of all, when I drop a tear 
over their recent dust. Death does not separate them 
from us here. Can life in heaven do it!" 

The succeeding paragraphs we transcribe from quo- 
tations from Wm. Howitt's "History of the Supernat- 
ural." Who but Theodore Parker could have written 
thus upon Spiritualism? 

"Let others judge the merits and defects of this 
scheme; it has never organized a church — yet, in 
all ages, from the earliest, men have more or less freely 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 57 

set forth its doctrines. We find these men amongst the 
despised and forsaken; the world was not ready to re- 
ceive them. They have been stoned and spit upon in 
all the streets of the world. The ' pious' have burned 
them as haters of God and man ; the wicked called them 
bad names and let them go. They have served to flash 
the swords of the Catholic Church, and fed the fires of 
the Protestants; but flames and steel will not consume 
them; the seed they have sown is quick in many a heart 
— their memory blessed by such as live divine. These 
are men at whom the world opens wide the mouth, and 
draws out the tongue, and utters its impertinent laugh; 
but they received the fires of God on their altars, and 
kept living its sacred flame. They go on, the forlorn 
hope of the race; but Truth puts a wall of fire about 
them, and holds the shield over their heads in the day 
of trouble. The battle of truth seems often lost, but is 
always won. Her enemies but erect the blood scaffold- 
ing where the workmen of God go up and down, and, 
with divine hands, build wiser than they know. When 
the scaffolding falls, the temple will appear.' ' . . . 

"This party has an idea wider and deeper than that 
of the Catholic or Protestant; namely, that God still in- 
spires men as much as ever; that he is imminent in spirit 
as in space. For the present purpose, and to avoid 
circumlocution, this doctrine may be called Spiritualism. 
This relies on no church tradition, or scripture, as the 
last ground and infallible rule. It counts these things 
teachers, if they teach — not masters ; helps, if they help 
us* — not authorities. It relies on the divine presence in 
the soul of men— the eternal word of God, which is 



58 What Is Spiritualism? 

Truth, as it speaks through the faculties he has given. 
It believes God is near the soul as matter to the sense; 
thinks the canon of revelation not yet closed, nor God 
exhausted. It sees him in Nature's perfect work; hears 
him in all true Scriptures, Jewish or Phoenician; feels 
him in the inspiration of the heart; stoops at the same 
fountain with Moses and Jesus, and is filled with living 
water. It calls God, Father, not King; Christ, brother, 
not redeemer; Heaven, home; Eeligion, Nature! It 
loves and trusts, but does not fear. It sees in Jesus 
a man, living, man-like; highly gifted and living with 
blameless and beautiful fidelity to God — stepping thou- 
sands of years before the race of men — the profoundest 
religious genius that God has raised up; whose words 
and works help us to form and develop the native idea 
of a complete religious man„ But he lived for himself, 
died for himself, worked out his own salvation, and we 
must do the same; for one man cannot live for another, 
more than he can eat or sleep for him. It lays down 
no creed, asks no symbol, reverences exclusively no time 
nor place, and therefore can use all time and every place. 
It reckons forms useful to such as they help. Its temple 
is all space, its shrine the good heart, its creed all truth, 
its ritual works of love and utility, its profession of faith 
a divine life, works without faith, within love of God 
and man. It takes all the helps it can get; counts no 
good word profane, though a heathen spoke it — nof lie 
sacred, though the greatest prophet had said the word. 
Its redeemer is within, its salvation within, its heaven 
and its oracle of God. It falls back on perfect religion 
— asks no more, is satisfied with no less." 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 59 

ADIN BALLOU, Hopedale, Mass. — When lecturing, in 
the year 1870, to the Spiritualist society in Cambridge- 
port, Mass., I exchanged Sunday services with the Rev. 
Adin Ballou of Hopedale, Mass., whom Count Tolstoy 
pronounces one of the "greatest and noblest men of 
America." Adin Ballou, though a clergyman, had the 
moral bravery and independence to investigate Spirit- 
ualism, and when receiving evidences of its reality, he 
was courageous enough to express publicly his convic- 
tions. In his book he says: "I have seen tables and 
light stands of various sizes moved about in the most 
astonishing manner by invisible agencies, with only the 
gentle and passive resting of the hands and finger tips 
of the medium on one of their edges. Also many dis- 
tinct movings of such objects by request without the 
touch of the medium at all. I have sat and conversed 
by the hour together with the authors of these sounds 
and motions, by means of signals first agreed upon; ask- 
ing questions and obtaining answers — receiving com- 
munications spelled out by the alphabet — discussing 
propositions sometimes made by them to me, and vice 
versa. I have witnessed the asking of mental questions 
by inquirers, who received as prompt and correct an- 
swers as when the questions were asked audibly to the 
cognition of the medium. 

"I have known these invisibles by request to write 
their names with a common plumbago pencil on a clean 
sheet of paper, — a half dozen of them, each in a differ- 
ent hand. ... I have requested what purported to be 
the spirit of a friend many years deceased, to go to a 
particular place, several miles distant from that of the 



60 What Is Spiritualism? 

sitting and to bring back intelligence respecting the then 
health and doings of a certain relative well known to 
the party. In three minutes of time, the intelligence 
was obtained, numerous particulars given, some of them 
rather improbable, but every one exactly confirmed the 
next day by personal inquiries made for that purpose. 
"I have been requested by the invisibles to speak on 
a particular subject, at a given time and place, with the 
assurance that responses should be made on the occa- 
sion by knockings, approving the truths uttered, — all of 
which was strikingly verified.' ' 

REV. WILLIAM FISHB0UGH, distinguished Universalist 
clergyman, extensive writer, early Spiritualist, author 
of several books and the scribe of Andrew Jackson 
Davis ' Divine Eevelations, who, revising, prepared them 
for publication. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the martyred President, was a 
Spiritualist. He frequently attended seances at the 
residence of the Lauries in Washington. The daughter 
was a medium. It was in this same family that Miss 
Nettie Coburn was entranced by spirits purporting to 
be Jefferson, and the fathers of our country, and who 
plead of President Lincoln to free those four million 
slaves in bondage. (See Mrs. Nettie Coburn-Maynard's 
work, entitled, "Abraham Lincoln, a Spiritualist." ) 
Lincoln's emancipation message was an inspiration from 
the spirit world. Judge Edmonds, delivering an oration 
in Hope Chapel, N. Y., upon the life of Lincoln, gave 
the proofs of this. It is undeniable. 

In Judge Pierpont's address to the jury at the Sur- 
ratt trial he said; "I now come to a strange act in this 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 61 

dark drama — strange, though not new — <so wonderful 
that it seems to come from beyond the veil that sepa- 
rates us from death. . . . On the morning of April 14th 
Mr. Lincoln called his Cabinet together. He had reason 
to be joyful, but he was anxious to hear from Sherman. 
Grant was here, and he said Sherman was all right; but 
President Lincoln said he feared something, and related 
a dream — a dream which he had previously to Chancel- 
lorsville and Stone* River reverses — and also whenever a 
disaster happened. The members of the Cabinet who 
heard that dream will never forget it. A few hours 
afterward, Sherman was not heard from — but the dream 
was fulfilled. A disaster had befallen the government, 
and Mr. Lincoln's spirit, by Booth's assassin hand, had 
returned to God who gave it." 

LINCOLN'S PROPHETIC DREAM, 

AS TOLD BY CHAKLES DICKENS 

When Charles Dickens was in the United States in 
1868, he wrote to his friend, John Forster, under date 
of February 4 of that year, that he had dined by invita- 
tion with Senator Charles Sumner, at Washington, on 
the previous Sunday, when Edwin Stanton, Secretary 
of War under Lincoln's administration, was the only 
other guest. The conversation having turned on the 
assassination of Lincoln, Dickens writes: 

"He and Sumner having been the first two public 
men at the dying President's bedside, and having re- 
mained with him until he breathed his last, we fell into 
a very interesting conversation. . . . Then Mr. Stan- 



62 What Is Spiritualism^ 

ton told me a curious little story. On the afternoon of 
the day on which the President was shot, there was a 
Cabinet Council, at which he presided. Mr. Stanton 
arrived rather late. 

"He noticed that the President sat with an air of 
great dignity and was grave and calm. Mr. Stanton, 
on leaving the council with the Attorney-General, said 
to him : * What an extraordinary change in Mr. Lincoln ! ' 
The Attorney-General replied: 'We all saw it before 
you came in. While we were waiting for you, he said, 
with his chin down on his breast: ' Gentlemen, some- 
thing very extraordinary is going to happen, and that 
very soon.' To which the Attorney-General had ob- 
served: 'Something good, sir, I hope?' When the Pres- 
ident answered very gravely: 'I don't know; I don't 
know. But it will happen, and shortly, too!' 

"As they were all impressed by his manner, the 
Attorney-General took him up again. 'Have you re- 
ceived information, sir, not yet disclosed to usV 'No/ 
answered the President, 'but I have had a dream, and 
I have now had that same dream three times. Once on 
the night preceding the battle of Bull Bun; once on the 
night preceding such another/ naming a battle also not 
favorable to the North. 

"His chin sank on his breast again, and he sat re- 
flecting. 'Might one ask the nature of this dream, sir?' 
asked the Attorney-General. 'Well,' replied the Presi- 
dent, without lifting his head or changing his attitude: 
'I am on a great, broad, rolling river, and I am in a 
boat, and I drift, and I drift — but this is not business/ 
suddenly raising his face and looking round the table 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 63 

as Mr. Stanton entered. 'Let us proceed to business, 
gentlemen ! ' 

"Mr. Stanton and the Attorney-General said as they 
walked on together it would be curious to notice 
whether anything ensued on this, and they agreed to 
notice. That night Lincoln was shot by Wilkes Booth, 
at Ford's Theatre, and died the following morning/ 9 
("Forster's Life of Charles Dickens,' ' pages 395-396.) 

CHARLES DICKENS, in a letter to Forster, the author 
of the "Life of Charles Dickens," says: "When in the 
midst of this trouble and pain, I sit down to my books, 
some beneficent power shows it all to me, and tempts 
me to be interested; and I don't invent — really, I do not 
—but SEE IT and write it down." James T. Field, 
Dickens' American publisher, says Dickens told him 
that when writing "The Old Curiosity Shop," little Nell 
was constantly at his elbow, no matter where he might 
happen to be, claiming his attention and demanding his 
sympathy, as if jealous when he spoke to anybody else. 
When he was writing "Martin Chuzzlewit," Mrs, Gamp 
kept him in such paroxysms of laughter by whispering 
to him in the most inopportune places — sometimes even 
in church — that he was compelled to fight her off* by 
main force, when he did not want her company, and 
threatened to have nothing more to do with her unless 
she could behave better, and come only when she was 
called. 

In* "Nicholas Nickleby," Smike asks Nicholas, "Do 
you remember the boy that died here!" (They were 
at Wackford Squeers' Academy.) 

"I was not here, you know; but what of him?" 



64 What Is Spiritualism? 

"I was with him at night; and, when all was silent, 
he cried no more for friends he wished to come and sit 
with him; but, began to see faces around his bed that 
came from home ; he said they smiled and talked to him ; 
and he died at last, lifting his head to kiss them. ' ' 

This is an affecting picture, impossible without 
spirit presence, but unmistakably indicating the clairvoy- 
ant condition in the hour of mortal dissolution. 

The immortal MILTON thus wrote : 

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen 
Both when we sleep and when we wake." 

WHLIAM LLOYD GAKRISON, author, anti-slavery 
speaker and pioneer "liberator," writing of Spiritual- 
ism, said: — 

"As the manifestations have spread from house to 
house, from city to city, from one part of the country 
to the other, across the Atlantic into Europe, till now 
the civilized world is compelled to acknowledge their 
reality, however diverse in accounting for them — as 
these manifestations continue to increase in variety and 
power, so that all suspicion of trick or imposture be- 
comes simply absurd and preposterous-— and as every 
attempt to find a solution for them in some physical 
theory relating to electricity, the odic force, clairvoy- 
ance, and the like, has thus far proved abortive — it be- 
comes every intelligent mind to enter into an investiga- 
tion of them with candor and fairness, as opportunity 
may offer, and to bear such testimony in regard to them 
as the facts may warrant, no matter what ridicule it 
may excite on the part of the uninformed or skeptical. 
As for ourselves, we have been in no haste to jump to 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 65 

a conclusion in regard to phenomena so universally; 
diffused and of so extraordinary a character. For the 
last three years we have kept pace with nearly all that 
has been published on the subject; and we have wit- 
nessed, at various times, many surprising ' manifesta- 
tions ;' and our conviction is, that they cannot be ac- 
counted for on any other theory, than that of spiritual 
agency. ' ' 

HARRIET HOSMER, the sculptor.— Visiting her na- 
tive country, Mrs. L. M. Child says: "I had an inter- 
view with her during which our conversation happened 
to turn upon dreams and visions. 'I had some experi- 
ence in that way,' she said. 'Let me tell you a singu- 
lar circumstance that happened to me in Eome. An 
Italian girl named Rosa was in my employ for a long 
time, but was finally obliged to return to her mother 
on account of confirmed ill-health. We were mutually 
sorry to part, for we liked each other. When I took my 
customary excursion on horseback I frequently called 
to see her. On one of these occasions I found her 
brighter than I had seen her for some time past. I had 
long relinquished hopes of her recovery, but there was 
nothing in her appearance which gave me the impres- 
sion of immediate danger. I left with the expectation 
of calling to see her many times. During the remainder 
of the day I was busy at my studio, and do not recollect 
that Eosa was in my thoughts after I parted from her. 
I retired to rest in good health and in a quiet frame of 
mind. But I awoke from a sound sleep with an oppres- 
sive feeling that some one was in the room. I wondered 
at the sensation, for it was entirely new to me, but in 



66 What Is Spiritualism? 

vain I tried to dispel it. I peered beyond the curtains 
of my bed, but could distinguish no object in the dark- 
ness. Trying to gather up my thoughts I soon reflected 
that the door was locked, and that I had put the key 
under my pillow. I felt for it. and found it where I 
had placed it. I said to myself that I had probably 
had some ugly dream, and waked with a vague impres- 
sion of it on my mind. Eeasoning thus, I arranged my- 
self comfortably for another nap. I am habitually a 
good sleeper, a stranger to fear, but do what I would, 
the idea still haunted me that some one was in my room. 
Finding it impossible to sleep, I longed for daylight to 
dawn that I might rise and pursue my customary avoca- 
tions. It was not long before I was able to distinguish 
the furniture in my room, and soon after, I heard in 
the apartments below, familiar noises of servants open- 
ing windows and doors. An old clock proclaimed the 
hour. I counted one, two, three, four, iive^ and resolved 
to arise immediately. My bed was partially screened 
by a long curtain, looped up at the side. As I raised 
my head from the pillow, Rosa looked inside the curtain 
and smiled at me. The idea of anything supernatural 
(spiritual) did not occur to me. Simply surprised, I 
exclaimed : — 

" 'Why, Rosa, how came you here when you are so 

air 

" 'I am well now,' she replied. 

" 'With no other thought than that of greeting her 
joyfully I sprang out of bed. There was no Rosa there! 
I moved the curtains, thinking she might, perhaps, 
have playfully hidden behind the folds. The same feel- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 67 

ing induced me to look into the closet. The sight of her 
had come so suddenly that in the first moment of sur- 
prise and bewilderment I did not reflect that the door 
was locked. When I became convinced that there was 
no one in the room but myself, I recollected that fact 
and thought I must have seen a vision. 

" 'At the breakfast table I said to the old lady with 
whom I boarded, "Rosa is dead." 

" 'What do you mean by that?' she inquired. 'You 
told me that she seemed better than common when you 
called to see her yesterday/ 

" 'I related the occurrences of the morning, and told 
her I had a strong impression Rosa was dead. She 
laughed and said I "had dreamed it all." I assured her 
that I was thoroughly awake, and in proof thereof told 
her that I had heard all the accustomed household noises, 
and had counted the clock when it struck five. 

" 'She replied, "All that is very possible, my dear. 
The clock struck in your dream. Real sounds often 
mix with the illusions of sleep. I am surprised that a 
dream should make such an impression on a young lady 
as free from superstition as you are." 

" 'She continued to jest on the subject, and slightly 
annoyed me by the persistence in believing it to be a 
dream, when I was perfectly sure of having been awake. 
To settle the question, I summoned a messenger and 
sent him to inquire how Rosa was. He returned with 
the answer that "she died this morning at five o'clock. " 

"I wrote these statements as Miss Hosmer told them 
to me, and after I had shown them to her, I asked her 
if she had any objections to their being published without 



68 What Is Spiritualism f 

the suppression of names. She replied, 'You have re- 
ported the matter correctly. Make what use you please 
of it. You cannot think it more strange or more unac- 
countable than I do myself.' " 

DR. EGBERT CHAMBERS, F. R. S., LL. D., the famous 
writer, publisher, and author of " Vestiges of Creation,' ' 
" Cyclopedia of English Literature," etc., was born in 
Peebles, Scotland, and after due investigation became a 
Spiritualist, writing thus :— 

"Already Spiritualism, conducted as it usually is, 
has had a prodigious effect throughout America, and 
partly in the Old World; also, in redeeming multitudes 
from hardened atheism and materialism, proving to 
them by the positive demonstration which their posi- 
tive cast of mind requires, that there is another world, 
that there is a non-material form of humanity, and that 
many miraculous things which they had hitherto scoffed 
at are true. ' ' "I have for many years known that these 
phenomena are real, as distinguished from imposture; 
and when fully accepted, will revolutionize the whole 
frame of human opinion on many important matters." 
The noted William Howitt, in a letter written to the 
Spiritual Magazine, London, Jan. 2, 1861, says: "Dr. 
Robert Chambers has been making an extensive tour of 
the United States. I saw him the other day and asked 
him — 'What of the Spiritualism in the American 
States!' He replied, 'I have studied that question wher- 
ever I have gone, and the result was most satisfactory. 
There the great fight is nearly over; you hear little, 
comparatively, said of it, but you find it in all the 
churches. It has given new evidence, new life, a new 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 69 

leaven to Christianity there. It has destroyed much 
bigotry and sectarian feeling; it has wonderfully quick- 
ened the pulse of the religious heart, and spread a 
soounder and nobler tone of faith, a more palpable senti- 
ment of " peace on earth and good will toward men. ,, ' " 

WILLIAM HOWITT, a Quaker by birth, was for a 
time the editor of the London Spiritualist Magazine. 

This eminent man and distinguished author of sev- 
enty volumes, so scholarly in attainment and affluent in 
classical allusion, continually testifies — a living .apostle 
— to a present communion with the spirit world. He 
wrote thus vigorously to the English Dunfermline Press: 
. "Sir — Who are the men who have in 
every country embraced Spiritualism? The rabbfeS 
the ignorant? the fanatic? By no means. But the most 
intelligent and able men of all classes. When such is 
the case, surely it becomes the ' majority of reflecting 
men, ' to use the words of your editor, to reflect on these 
facts. Let numbers go for nothing; but, when the num- 
bers add also first rate position, pre-eminent abilities, 
largest experience of men and their doings, weight of 
moral, religious, scientific, and political character, then 
the man who does not look into what these declare to be 
truth, is not a reflecting, but a very foolish and preju- 
diced man. Now, it is very remarkable that, when we 
proceed to enumerate the leading men who have em- 
braced modern Spiritualism, we begin also to enumerate 
the pre-eminent intellects and characters of the age. In 
America you justly say that the shrewd and honest 
Abraham Lincoln was a Spiritualist. He was a devoted 
one. So also were, and are, the Hon. Kobert Dale 



70 What Is Spiritualism? 

Owen and Judge Edmonds; so was Professor Hare. 
You are right in all these particulars. In fact, almost 
every eminent man in the American Government is a 
Spiritualist. Garrison, whom the anti-Spiritualists 
were so lately and enthusiastically feting in England, 
for his zealous services in the extinction of negro sla- 
very, is an avowed Spiritualist. Horace Greely, the editor 
of the New York Tribune, a man whose masterly, polit- 
ical reasoning has done more than any man to direct the 
course of American politics, is a Spiritualist. Longfel- 
low, the poet, now in England, and just treated with the 
highest honors by the University of Cambridgei, and 
about to be feted by the whole literary world of Eng- 
land, is, and has long and openly been, a Spiritualist. 
But I might run over the majority of the great names 
of America. Turn to France. The shrewd Emperor, 
the illustrious Victor Hugo, the sage and able statesman 
Guizot, one of the most powerful champions of Chris- 
tianity, are Spiritualists. So is Garibaldi, in Italy. In 
England, you might name a very long and distinguished 
list of men and women, of all classes, Spiritualists. If 
you had the authority you might mention names which 
would startle no little those who affect to sneer at Spir- 
itualism. It is confidently said that a Spiritualist sits 
on the throne of these realms, as we know that 
such do sit on those of the greatest nations of Europe. 
We know that the members of some of the chief ducal 
houses of Scotland, and of the noble houses of Ireland 
and England, are Spiritualists. Are all these people 
likely to plunge their heads and their reputations into 
an unpopular cause without first looking well into itf 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 71 

But then, say the opponents, the scientific don't affect 
it. They must greatly qualify this assertion, for many 
and eminent scientific men have had the sense and the 

courage to look into it, and have found it a great truth. 

* # # 

"Numbers of scientific men have embraced Spiritual- 
ism. Dr. Hare, mentioned by you, was a great electri- 
cian, rated by the Americans little, if any, inferior to 
Faraday. He did exactly what people now want scien- 
tific men to do. He thought Spiritualism a humbug, and 
went regularly into an inquiry in order to expose it. 
But it did — as it has done in every case that I have 
heard of, where scientific men have gone candidly and 
fairly into the examination — after two years of testing 
and proving, convince him of its truth. Dr. Elliotson, a 
very scientific man, and for years violently opposed to 
Spiritualism, so soon as he was willing to inquire, became 
convinced, and now blesses God for the knowledge of it. 
Dr. Ashburner, his fellow-editor of the Zoist, has also 
long been an avowed Spiritualist. Mr. Alfred Wallace, 
a scientific man and excellent naturalist, who was on the 
Amazon with Mr. Bates, has published his conviction of 
its truth. Sir Charles Wheatstone, some time ago, on 
seeing some remarkable phenomena in his own house, 
declared them real. And just now, on the Home and 
Lyon trial, the public have seen Mr. Varley, a man of 
first-rate science, the electrician to the Electric and In- 
ternational and the Atlantic Telegraph Companies, come 
forward and make affidavit of his having investigated the 
facts of Spiritualism, and found them real. Now after 
such cases, why this continual cry out for examination 



72 What Is Spiritualism? 

by scientific men! Scientific men of the first stamp have 
examined and reported that it is a great fact. Scientific 
men by the hundred and the thousand have done it, and 
yet the crowd go on crying for a scientific man. Why? 
Simply because it is much easier to open their mouths 
and bleat as sheep do in a flock than exert their minds 
and their senses. It is time that all this folly had an 
end. There are now more Spiritualists than would popu- 
late Scotland seven times over at its present scale of pop- 
ulation; and surely the testimony of such a multitude, 
including statesmen, philosophers, historians, and scien- 
tific men, too, is as absolutely decisive as any mortal 
matter can be. And pray, my good friend, don't trouble 
yourself that your neighbors call you mad. You are 
mad in most excellent company. All the great men of 
all ages who have introduced or accepted new ideas were 
mad in the eyes of their contemporaries. As I have said 
Socrates and Christ and St. Paul were mad ; Galileo was 
mad; De Cans was mad; Thomas Gray, who first advo- 
cated railways, was declared by the Edinburgh Review, 
mad as a march hare. They are the illustrious tribe of 
madmen by whom the world is propelled, widened as by 
Columbus, and enlightened as by Bacon, Newton, Des- 
Cartes, and the rest of them, who were all declared mad 
in their turn. And don't be anxious about Spiritualism. 
From the first moment of its appearance to this, it has 
moved on totally unconcerned and unharmed amidst every 
species of opposition, misrepresentation, lying, and ob- 
struction, and yet has daily and hourly grown, and 
spread, and strengthened, as if no such evil influences 
were assailing it. Like the sun, it has traveled on its 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 73 

course unconscious of the clouds beneath, it. Like the 
ocean, it has rolled in billows over the slimy creatures 
at its bottom, and dashed its majestic waves over every 
proud man who dared to tread within its limits. And 
whence comes this? Obviously, from the hand which is 
behind it— the hand of the Great Ruler of the Universe. 
For my part, having long perceived this great fact, I 
have ceased to care what people say or do against Spirit- 
ualism; to care who believes or does not believe; who 
comes into it or stays out; certain that it is as much a 
part of God's economy of the universe as the light of the 
sun, and will, therefore, go on and do its work." 

MARY HOWITT, the accomplished wife of William 
Howitt and in early life a rigid Quakeress in faith and 
•practice, became, after a time, a devoted Spiritualist. 
^Margaret Howitt, her daughter, in an autobiography 
says on page 231: "In the spring of 1856, we had be- 
come acquainted with several most ardent and honest 
spirit mediums. It seemed right to my husband and my- 
self, under the circumstances, to see and try to under- 
stand the true nature of these phenomena in which our 
new acquaintance so firmly believed. In the month of 
April, I was therefore invited to a seance at Prof, de 
Morgan's and was much astonished and affected by com- 
munications purporting to come to me from my dear 
Claude. With constant prayer for enlightenment, we 
experimented at home. The teachings that seemed given 
to us from the spirit world were often akin to those of 
the gospels; at other times were more obviously emana- 
tions of evil. The system was open to much abuse. 
I felt thankful for the assurance thus gained of an in- 



74 What Is Spiritualism? 

visible world, but resolved to neglect none of my com- 
mon duties for Spiritualism. ' ' . . . 

It will be seen here that they experimented at home: 
William Howitt himself was the medium; and when a 
guest at his home, he showed me both his spirit writings 
and spirit drawings automatically produced. 

Although Mrs. Howitt joined the Roman Catholic 
Church in her old age, there is no proof that she ever re- 
nounced or denied the beautiful truth of spiritual mani- 
festations. 

All Roman Catholics believe in conscious intercourse 
between two worlds; but they reject all messages as 
evil that do not conform to the dogmas of the Catholic 
Church. 

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.— "One of the deepest and 
most imperative cravings of the human heart, as it fol- 
lows its beloved ones beyond the veil, is for some assur- 
ance that they still love and care for us. . . . They have 
overcome, have risen, are crowned, glorified; but still 
they remain to us, our assistants, our comforters, and in 
every hour of darkness their voice speaks to us." 

"Sweet souls around us, watch us still, 

Press nearer to our side; 
Into our thoughts, into our prayers, 

With gentle helping glide." 

In the " Church Union " she wrote these telling words : 
"We hold to the belief in the unbroken unity possible 
between those who have passed to the higher life and 
this. We hold to that vivid faith in things unseen which 
was the strength of primitive Christians. The first 
Christians believed what they said they did — we do not. 
The unseen spiritual world, its angels and archangels, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 75 

its saints and martyrs, its purity and its joys, were ever 
before them, and that is why they were such a mighty 
force in the world. St. Augustine says that it was the 
vision of the saints gone before that inspired them with 
courage and contempt of death — and it is true." 

Mrs. Stowe further tells us that she did not really 
write "Uncle Tom's Cabin," it was given to her — it 
passed in vision before her. She had to tell it as it 
came, and suffered in so doing. 

HENRY WARD BEECHER'S Spiritualism was well 
known, not only to clairvoyants and trance mediums, 
but to many of his congregations. In a discourse, de- 
livered in 1878, he used these emphatic words:— 

"I suppose that from the beginning of things this 
world has been open to the influence of spirits. It is 
not difficult to believe that there is a spiritual influence 
which we can neither understand nor appreciate. This 
is certainly the doctrine of the New Testament (and the 
Old Testament as well). It was taught by the Saviour 
and the Apostles that both divine and demoniac influ- 
ences roll in (rather flow in) upon the human soul." 

REV. T. K. BEECHER, another of the Beecher family-— 
Congregational clergyman of Elmira, N. Y.,— is an 
avowed Spiritualist. These are some of his published 
words : — 

1 ' There is no nation under heaven, of whom we have 
any historic record, that has not preserved more or less 
testimony, that certain men and women have been in- 
spired by God or possessed by spirits. Are we wise when 
we toss the head, and say, Superstition ! ignorance ! dark- 
ness % Is it absurd to believe in spiritual manifestations, 



76 What Is Spiritualism? 

merely because we are accustomed to the manifestations 
of one spirit at a time ? . . . 

1 ' There is very little doubt in my mind, that the 
clamor and confusion and strife of opinion of these days 
are to be attributed largely to spiritual influences. I 
have no sweeping condemnation to visit upon the teach- 
ings of these spirits, nor any sweeping praise to speak 
of the men and women who are the mediums by which 
they reveal themselves. But remember that all intelli- 
gent Spiritualists of the present day are accustomed to 
listen to the messages from the unseen world very much 
as you, my friends, listen to preachers." 

"We are all of us mediums,' * 

"It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, 
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men 
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams ; 
and on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour 
our in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." 

KANT, a name illustrious in the literature of the world, 
was a poet-prophet, as well as a profound philosopher, 
dreaming of the coming of spiritual manifestations. In 
his "Dream of the Ghost-Seer," he says: — 

"It will be hereafter proved that the human soul, 
even in this life, is in constant communication with the 
spiritual world, and that these are susceptible of mutual 
impressions; but ordinarily these impressions are un- 
perceived. ' ' 

JAMES G. CLARK, the "American Laureate," as B. 0. 
Flower of the Arena termed him, was a writer, author, 
and an illustrious poet, whom to know was to esteem and 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 77 

love. He was at first a lyric writer, and later a song 
writer, whose poems were aflame with freedom, justice, 
and all the reforms of the age. He never shrank from 
expressing his convictions of the truth of Spiritualism, 
and xhis services were in great demand at Spiritualist 
campmeetings. He had great admiration for the Naza- 
rene, as was beautifully set forth in the following 
stanzas : 

Sweet prophet of Nazareth, constant and tender, 

Whose truth like a rainbow encircles the world; 
The time is approaching when wrong shall surrender, 

And war's crimson banner be furled; 
When the throat of the lion no longer shall utter 

Its roar of defiance in desert and glen, 
When the lands will join hands, and the black cannon mutter 

Their discords no mere to the children of men. 



"As breaks the gold sunlight, when heroes and sages 

Were rising and falling like meteors in space, 
A new glory broke on the gloom of the ages, 

And love warmed to life in the glow of thy face; 
The wars of the Old Time are waning and failing, 

The peace of the New Time o'erarches our tears; 
The orbs of the Old Time are fading and paling, 

The sun of the New Time is gilding the years. 



"The mist of the ocean, the spray of the fountain, 

The vine on the hillside, the moss on the shrine, 
The rose in the valley, the pine on the mountain, 

All turn to a glory that symboleth thine; 
So I yearn for thy love as the purest and dearest 

That ever uplifted a spirit from woe, 
And I turn to thy life as the truest and nearest 

To infinite Goodness that mortals may know. 



78 What Is Spiritualism? 

"O Soul of the Orient, peerless and holy, 

Enthroned in a splendor of angels above, 
I would join with the singers that raise up the lowly, 

And praise Thee in deeds that are Christlike in love. 
Let my words be as showers that fall on the highlands, 

Begotten in shadows, expiring in light, 
While Thine are the billows that sing to life's islands 

In numbers unbroken, by noonday and night." 



HIS SERENE HIGHNESS, PRINCE GEORGE OF SOLMS, 

whom I had the great pleasure of meeting in Rome, and 
conversing with upon the phenomena and philosophy of 
Spiritualism, and whom I last met by a beautiful foun- 
tain in Pincian Hill in the Eternal City, was, with the 
above-named illustrious persons, a thorough Spiritualist. 

JOHN RUSKIN, being reminded of his former disbelief 
in the immortality of the soul, remarked to a friend : 
"Yes, I remember it very well. That which revived this 
belief in my mind was, more than anything else, the 
undeniable proofs of it offered by Spiritualism. I am 
not unacquainted with the mass of fraud and follies which 
are mixed up with this doctrine, but it contains suffi- 
cient truth to convince me of the evidence of a life inde- 
pendent of the body, and it is this which I find so inter- 
esting in Spiritualism." 

JOSEPH BARKER, lecturer, writer, materialist, atheist. 
— It is nearly sixty years since I heard this English 
orator in Waverly, N. Y. His lecture was ironical and 
unreasonably bitter against God and the Bible, Christ 
and immortality. In his autobiography, page 159, pub- 
lished in 1869, I find the following concerning his conver- 
sion to Spiritualism, and which, by the way, in a recent 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 79 

republication his nephew omitted because of its spiritual 
phenomena — this I say to the nephew's shame: — 

"Spiritualism had something to do with my conver- 
sion. I know the strong feeling prevailing among Chris- 
tians against Spiritualism, but I should feel as if I had 
not quite done my duty if I did not, to the best of my 
recollection, set down the part it had in the cure of 
my unbelief. My friends must, therefore, bear with me 
while I give them the following particulars : — 

"As I traveled to and fro in America, fulfilling my 
lecturing engagements, I met with a number of persons 
who had been converted, by means of Spiritualism, from 
utter infidelity to a belief in God and a future life. 
Several of those converts told me their experience, and 
pressed me to visit some medium myself, in hopes that I 
might witness something that would lead to my conver- 
sion. I was, at the time, so exceedingly skeptical that 
the wonderful stories which they told me, only caused 
me to suspect them of ignorance, insanity, or dishonesty ; 
and the repetition of such stories, to which I was com- 
pelled to listen in almost every place I visited, had such 
an unhappy effect on my mind that I was strongly 
tempted to say, 'All men are liars.' I had so completely 
forgotten, or explained away, my own previous experi- 
ences, and I was so far gone in unbelief that I had no 
confidence whatever in anything that was told me about 
matters spiritual or supernatural, I might have the full- 
est confidence imaginable in the witnesses when they 
spoke on ordinary subjects, but I could not put the slight- 
est faith in their testimony when they told me their 
•stories about spiritual matters. And though fifty or a 



80 What Is Spiritualism? 

hundred persons, in fifty or a hundred different places, 
without concert with one another, and without any temp- 
tation of interest, told me similar stories, their words 
had not the least effect on my mind. The most credible 
testimony in the world was utterly powerless, so far as 
things spiritual were concerned. And when the parties 
whose patience I tried by my measureless incredulity, 
entreated me to visit some celebrated medium, that 1 
might see and judge for myself, I paid not the least 
regard to their entreaties. I was wiser in my own con- 
ceit than all the believers on earth. 

"At length, to please a particular friend of mine in 
Philadelphia, I visited a medium, called Dr. Redman. 
It was said that the proofs which he gave of the existence 
and powers of departed spirits were such as no one 
could resist. My friend and his family had visited this 
medium, and had seen things which to them seemed 
utterly unaccountable, except on the supposition that 
they were the work of disembodied spirits. 

"When I entered Dr. Redman's room, he gave me 
eight small pieces of paper about an inch wide and two 
inches long, and told me to take them aside, where no 
one could see me, and write on them the names of such 
of my departed friends as I might think fit and then 
wrap them up like pellets, and bring them to him. I 
took the papers and wrote on seven of them the names 
of my father and mother, my eldest and my youngest 
brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, and an aunt ; one name 
on each, and one I left blank. I retired to a corner to 
do the writing, where there was neither glass nor win- 
dow, and I was so careful not to give anyone a chance 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 81 

of knowing what I wrote, that I wrote with a short 
pencil, so that even the motion of the top of my pencil 
could not be seen. I was, besides, entirely alone in that 
part of the room, with my face to the dark wall. The 
bits of paper which the medium had given me were soft, 
so that I had no difficulty in rolling them into round 
pellets, about the size of small peas. I rolled them up, 
and could no more have told which was blank and which 
was written on, nor which, among the seven I had written 
on, contained the name of any of one of my friends, 
and which the names of the rest, than I can tell at this 
moment what is taking place in the remotest orbs of 
heaven. Having rolled up the papers as described, I laid 
them on a round table, about three feet broad. I laid on 
the table at the same time a letter, wrapped up, but not- 
sealed, written to my father, but with no address outside ; 
I also laid down a few loose leaves of note paper. The 
medium sat on one side the table, and I sat on the other, 
and the pellets of paper and the letter lay between us. 
We had not sat over a minute, I think, when there 
came very lively raps on the table, and the medium 
seemed excited. He seized a pencil and wrote on the 
outside of my letter, wrong side up, and from right to 
left, so that what he wrote lay right for me to read, 
these words: 'I came in with you, but you neither saw 
me nor felt me. William Barker.' And immedi- 
ately he seized me by the hand and shook hands with me. 
' ' This rather startled me. I felt very strange. For 
William Barker was the name of my youngest 
brother who had died in Ohio some two or three years 
before. I had never named him, I believe, in Philadel- 



82 What Is Spiritualism? 

phia, and I have no reason to suppose that any one in 
the city was aware that I had ever such a brother, much 
less that he was dead. I did not tell the medium that the 
name that he had written was the name of a brother 
of mine; but I asked, 'Is the name of this person among 
those written in the paper pellets on the table V 

' ' The answer was instantly given by three loud raps, 
'Yes.' 

"I asked, 'Can he select the paper containing his 
name ? ' 

"The medium then took up first one of the paper 
pellets and then another, laying them down again, till he 
came to the fifth, which he handed to me. I opened it 
out and it contained my brother's name. I was startled 
again and felt very strange. I asked, 'Will the person 
whose name is on this paper answer me some questions ! ' 

"The answer was, 'Yes.' 

"I then took part of my note paper, and with my 
left hand on edge and the top of my short pencil con- 
cealed, I wrote, 'Where d ,' intending to write, 'Where 

did you dieT But as soon as I had written, 'Where 

d ,' the medium reached over my hand and wrote, 

upside down and backwards way, as before, — 

" 'Put down a number of places and I will tell you.' 

' ' Thus answering my question before I had had time 
to ask it in writing. 

"I then wrote down a list of places, four in all, and 
pointed to each separately with my pencil, expecting raps 
when I touched the right one ; but no raps came. 

"The medium then said, 'Write down a few more.' 
I then discovered that I had not, at first, written down 



Who Are These Spiritualists® 83 

the place where my brother died; so I wrote down two 
more places, the first of the two being the place where 
he died. The list then stood thus: Salem, Leeds, Ra- 
venna, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, New York. 

"The medium then took his pencil and moved it be- 
tween the different names till he came to Cuyahoga 
Falls, which he scratched out. That was the name of 
the place where he died. 

"I then wrote a number of other questions, in no 
case giving the medium any chance of knowing what I 
wrote by any ordinary means, and in every case he an- 
swered the questions in writing as he had done before; 
and in every case but one the answers were such as to 
show, both that the answerer knew what questions I had 
asked, and was acquainted with the matters to which 
they referred. 

"When I had asked some ten or a dozen questions, 
the medium said, 'There is a female spirit wishing to 
communicate with you.' 

" 'Is her name among those on the tabled I asked. 

"The answer in three raps, was, 'Yes.' 

" 'Can she select the paper containing her name?' 
I asked. 

"The answer again was, 'Yes.' 

"The medium then took up one of the paper pellets, 
and put it down; then took up and put down a second; 
then took up a third and handed it to me. 

"I was just preparing to undo it to look for the name 
when the medium reached over as before, and wrote on 
a leaf of my note paper : — 

" 'It is my name. Elizabeth Barker/ 



84 What Is Spiritualism? 

"And the moment he had written it, he stretched out 
his hand, smiling, and shook hands with me again. 
Whether it really was so or not," I will not say, but 
his face was the old expression of my mother's face; 
and when he shook hands with me he drew his hand 
away in the manner in which my mother had always 
drawn away her hand. The tears started into my eyes 
and my flesh seemed to creep on my bones. I felt 
stranger than ever. I opened the paper, and it was my 
mother's name, Elizabeth Barker. I asked a number 
of questions as before, and received appropriate 
answers. 

i i But I had seen enough. I felt no desire to multiply 
experiments. So I came away, — sober, sad, and 
thoughtful. 

' i I had a particular friend in Philadelphia, an old un- 
believer, called Thomas Illman. He was born at Thet- 
ford, England, and educated for the ministry in the Es- 
tablished Church. He was remarkably well informed. 
I never met with a skeptic who had read more or knew 
more on historical or religious subjects, or who was 
better acquainted with things in general, except Theo- 
dore Parker. He was the leader of the Philadelphia Free- 
thinkers, and was many years president of the Sunday 
Institute of that city. He told me, many months before 
I paid a visit to Dr. Eedman, that he once paid him a 
visit, and that he had seen what was utterly beyond his 
comprehension, — what seemed quite at variance with the 
notion that there was no spiritual world,— and what com- 
pelled him to regard with charity and forbearance, the 
yiews of Christians on that subject. At the time he told 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 85 

me of these things, I had become rather uncharitable 
toward the Spiritualists, and very distrustful of their 
statements, and the consequence was that my friend's 
account of what he had witnessed, and of the effect it had 
had on his mind, made but little impression on me. But 
when I saw these things resembling what my friend had 
seen, his statements came back to my mind with great 
power, and helped to increase my astonishment. But 
my friend was now dead, and I had no longer an oppor- 
tunity of conversing with him about what we had seen. 
"The result of my visit to Dr. Redman was, that I 
never afterward felt the same impatience with Spiritual- 
ists, or the same inclination to pronounce them foolish or 
dishonest, that I had felt before. It was plain that 
whether their theory of the spirit world was true or not, 
they were excusable in thinking it true. It looked like 
truth. I did not myself conclude that it was true, but 
I was satisfied that there was more in this wonderful uni- 
verse than could be accounted for on the coarse material- 
He principles of atheism. My skepticism was not de- 
ed, but it was shaken and confounded. And now, 
e a I look back on these things, it seems strange that it 
s not entirely swept away. But believing and dis- 
believing are habits, and they are subject to the same 
laws as other habits. You may exercise yourself in 
doubting till you become the slave of doubt. And this 
was what I had done. I exercised myself in doubting 
till my tendencies to doubt had become irresistible. My 
faith, both in God and man, seemed entirely gone. I had 
not, so far as I can see, so much as 'a grain of mustard 
seed' left. So far as religious matters were concerned, 



86 What Is Spiritualism^ 

I was insane. It makes me sad to think what a horrible 
extravagance of doubt had taken possession of my mind. 
A thousand thanks to God for my deliverance from that 
dreadful thraldom.' ' 

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX, author, popular poet, and 
press writer, says: "I believe hundreds of well-authen- 
ticated instances exist where these spirit forms have been 
seen — not in darkened rooms, under linen sheets, but in 
broad light, and in their own likeness. 

"I believe thousands of instances have occurred where 
messages have been received from them, and I have no 
doubt that we are often visited by departed friends whose 
presence we vaguely feel, but whom we cannot see or 
hear. 

4 * Since such visitations are our only absolute proof 
of a future life, I fail to understand why religious people 
cry out against a belief in spirit return. 

"The Bible is full of such occurrences, and God's uni- 
verse is the same today as it was in those historic times. 

"Meantime I feel that since the spirit life is the 
more advanced life, we should not intrude upon its higher 
usefulness by continual attempts to bring our friends 
back to earth. Let them make the advances. 

"It is easily understood how one in great bereave- 
ment haunts the mediums and clairvoyants, hoping for 
a message from a dear one to break the awful silence of 
the grave. 

"That such messages have been received I have no 
doubt. 

"That I myself have received them I am confident, 



Who Are These Spiritualists / 87 

but such occurrences have been rare, while my investi- 
gations have been frequent. 

" There is no t questioning the fact that some people are 
endowed with what might be termed a spiritual telephone 
just as others have mechanical, musical, or mathematical 
genius. 

"But even as the earthly telephone at times is unre- 
liable, and ' Central ' does not always make the right con- 
nections, so these spiritual wires are not always to be 
relied upon. 

"It is foolish, dangerous, and wrong to appeal to our 
friends who have passed into another world, for advice 
and counsel upon every earthly subject. Nothing but 
harm can result from a constant effort to bring back 
disembodied spirits. They have their own work to do, 
and we are here to work out our destinies, to decide our 
own problems, and to love our own lives. No one in this 
world or the next can do these things for us. 

"We are scholars in school, and we must not appeal 
to the graduates to come back from the busy world to 
give us the answers to all life's problems. 

"The moment those endowed with the power to com- 
municate with spirit realms use those powers as a means 
of earning money, they become unreliable for obvious 
reasons. . . 

"I am confident we are all often surrounded by bands 
of invisible forces, spirits in various phases of develop- 
ment who are interested in our welfare. 

"They are God's messengers, sent to cheer and help 
struggling humanity." 



88 What Is Spiritualism? 

REV. H. R. HAWEIS, M, A., London, in an address in St. 
James Hall, said : — 

"I am putting in a plea for the harmony of Spirit- 
ualism with Scripture, in order that the clergy shall rec- 
ognize how much they are indebted to Spiritualism. I 
don't say there are not great dangers in it; but they 
exist everywhere. They are not confined to Spiritual- 
ism. But I do say that the clergy, through Spiritualism, 
have had their Bible rehabilitated. We have had a new 
philosophical basis for immortality after that shock of 
atoms we call death. We find Spiritualism is not op- 
posed to the Atonement (the reconciling of men to God), 
not opposed to the doctrine of the dead, not op- 
posed to the communion of saints. 'Are not they 
all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto such 
as shall be heirs of salvation? ' I say that Spiritualism 
has finally taken away from us the capricious, fanciful, 
irrational kind of God who is supposed to judge his crea- 
tures in a way that would be a disgrace to a common 
magistrate, without intelligence, pity, sympathy, or 
knowledge; such a God as has revolted so many sensi- 
ble religious people; and Spiritualism has done away 
with him. Spiritualism has pointed us to One who judges 
righteously; one who does not change, who is the same 
yesterday, today, and forever, loving man through all, 
bringing him back by slow degrees, back to the diviner 
life, to the realization of his diviner self ; one whose policy 
can never alter, because he can never alter. Spiritualism 
has told us of this remedial world beyond. It points us 
to life, not death, for — 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 89 

""Tis life, not death, for which we pant; 
'Tis life of which our nerves are scant, 
More life and fuller that we want.' 

"Yes, it leads us to the center and source of life; it 
reveals to us the bright galaxy of ministering spirits, the 
Jacob's ladder which reaches from earth to Heaven and 
upon which the angels of God are ascending and descend- 
ing. Spiritualism has given us back our Bible, given 
us back our Christ, given us back our immortality, and 
given us back our God. ' ' 

VICTOBIEN SARDOXJ, writer, author, and great French 
dramatist, wrote thus to his friend, M. Jules Bois: — 

"'My Dear Confrere: I was one of the earliest stu- 
dents of Spiritism. That was about fifty years ago. I 
have passed from incredulousness to surprise and from 
surprise to conviction. 

"It would take a volume to answer you. I there- 
fore limit myself to giving you the conclusions I have 
reached after half a century of observations and experi- 
ments. 

"Material phenomena observed under rigorously 
scientific conditions, and vouched for by scientists of 
whose names I need not remind you, are certainly no 
longer contestable. 

"But, as a rule, they are also inexplicable at the 
present stage of our knowledge. 

"In a great number of cases it is impossible to deny 
the intervention of an intellect separate from the intel- 
lect of the spectators. Impossible also to deny that this 
intelligent force is neither the projection nor result of 
their own thoughts. From the production of certain 



90 What Is Spiritualism? 

phenomena we must admit the effective presence of oc- 
cult beings, the exact nature of whom it has been so far 
impossible to define exactly. 

"But then how can one say so without being cov- 
ered with ridicule? How would one dare to face the 
disgusting ignorance that prevails even among so-called 
educated people — dare to assert that these beings are 
not chimerical, and that our beautiful (?) humanity is 
not the work of creation? 

"And so, in order to escape the raillery of official 
science, the skepticism of ignoramuses and witty people 
(who so often are fools!), we try to explain away cases 
by pseudo-scientific hypotheses which are very funny to 
people who know what I know, who have seen what I 
have seen, and have done what I have done. 

"You ask me whether I believe in materialization. 
Of course I do, because I have myself caused spirits to 
materialize at the first epoch when I was a medium. And 
I still await the scientific man who will successfully ex- 
plain, as a psychical force of which I should have been 
at once the author, spectator, and victim, the fact that 
a bunch of roses which I still preserve was thrown upon 
my writing table by an invisible hand. 

"Finally, about the first drawings to which you al- 
lude, I obtained the first ones in 1857, under conditions 
identical with those of M. Desmoulin's more recent ex- 
periences. But I have long since learned to believe that 
these pretended pictures of planetary life had no real 
value as documents of information. 

"They are just about as good for that purpose as 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 91 

the famous Martian language which some playful ghost 
lately tried to palm off upon us. 

" There, my dear confrere, you have a summary of 
the conclusions I have reached from my own experiences 
with the inhabitants of the world beyond. It does not 
amount to much, you see. And yet I feel I have not lost 
the time I devoted to the study of these things. Amicable 
salutations. 

"V. Saedou." 

In another summing up he affirms : — 

"What I have seen I know. What I have felt I be- 
lieve. I began as a young man to interest myself in 
the manifestations of psychic forces in matter. I began as 
a skeptic, as most people do. Soon I discovered that by 
holding a pen my hand would w^rite without any effort 
on my part, and I began to make sketches, of which 
I was incapable by myself. I have seen and touched ma- 
terialized bodies, hands, and hair, and on one occasion, 
when I was sitting before my table, a bunch of white 
roses, fresh and fragrant as if just culled, fell from 
above down on the table before me." — Victorien Sardou. 

BISHOP T. M. CLARK was a born Spiritualist. When I 
was lecturing in Providence, R. I., in 1866-7 (if memory 
serves — I am not good at dates), I called upon Bishop 
Clark and had a most interesting conversation with him 
upon New England religious progress from John Calvin's 
and Cotton Mather 's time up to 1848, the dawn of modern 
Spiritualism. The Bishop had met not long previously, 
Robert Dale Owen, at a watering place, and he kindly 
related to me portions of their conversation. The in- 



92 What Is Spiritualism? 

terview was deeply interesting, as two congenial souls 
had met. 

Bishop Clark, when residing at Hartford, Conn., at- 
tended Mr. D. D. Home's seances, closely investigating 
them in his own house. In a letter that the Rev. Dr. 
Clark wrote to Home, dated Hartford, June 2, 1854, 
occur the following passages: — 

"I can imagine you looking out from your elevation 
in Roxbury upon the distant sea, and then up into the 
more distant heavens to see who are looking down upon 
you from above. . . . You have the pleasant assurance 
of having been the instrument of conveying incalculable 
joy and comfort to the hearts of many people; in the 
case of some you have changed the whole aspect of their 
existence. You have made dwelling places light that 
were dark before. . . . My book is posted up to that 
last night in your chamber. Those tangible demonstra- 
tions cannot be recorded on paper. . . . ' ' 

Under date of Hartford, June 25, 1854, he again 
wrote : — 

"How I wish you could drop in upon us this quiet 
Sunday evening. It seems hardly possible that we can 
ever have more of those wonderful scenes which we have 
passed through with you. When I recall the incidents 
as they occurred, they appear almost too great to be be- 
lieved. Do you get anything new— that is, anything dif- 
ferent in kind from what we have experienced? . . . " 

Having been away and engaged in more "worldly 
matters," he again writes: "I have now a strong ap- 
petite for something a little spiritual." 

Yes, the clergy are hungering for things spiritual, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 93 

which they cannot get from the manna of Moses nor 
from any cold dead forms and ceremonies. To get real 
soul food they are obliged to go to mediums, intermedi- 
ates, or clairvoyant sensitives. 

BARON SEYMOUR KIRKUP.— Eeturning from a consu- 
lar appointment in Asiatic Turkey, I went from Rome 
to Florence, as the guest of Baron Kirkup, 1309 Ponte 
Vecchio, Florence. The Baron spent hours and hours 
describing to me the manifestations through mediums 
that he had in his own house. Among other things he 
said: "Some spirits have been seen by my mediums 
when consciously awake as well as asleep, and some have 
been seen by myself. But the most remarkable of these 
manifestations (see Spiritual Magazine, Vol. IV, p. 73) 
are the numerous 'Apports,' as the French called 
them, which have taken place here — presents of 
all sorts, which are valuable, brought to us and pre- 
served by us with care and others which we gave in 
return, — rings, lockets, etc., which have been carried 
away out of inaccessible, locked-up, and sealed rooms, 
(only a window open), and brought back by appointment 
by the spirits." Similar things we saw and had done 
both at Mrs. Fletcher's residence, Hawthorn, Melbourne, 
Australia, and in Mr. Stanford's room, Melbourne. 

Here in the Baron's drawing-room I saw a copy of 
Longfellow's poems, and Longfellow's card in the beau- 
tiful card case. Speaking of these poems to the Baron, 
he said: "You must be favored in America with such a 
distinguished poet being a Spiritualist." 

My reply was, "I did not know that he was a Spirit- 
ualist. Certainly, he had never publicly avowed his 



94 What Is Spiritualism? 

Spiritualism, although some of his poems abounded in 
straight-out and beautiful Spiritualistic sentiment.' ' 

The Baron remarked, "Well, he conversed with me 
upon Spiritualism as other Spiritualists do, and enjoyed 
a seance with the medium then residing with me. So 
I had naturally supposed that he was a Spiritualist. ' ' 
Seymour Kirkup, a great student and baron, openly 
avowed his Spiritualism, and opened his purse to the 
dissemination of the principles. 

REV. DR. LYMAN ABBOTT,— " I believe there is a spirit 
which death does not quench, but releases and 
makes efficacious. I derive my belief partly from the 
Bible, partly from the testimony of others, and partly 
from my own experience. I do not believe that those who 
have died have gone far away from us. They have 
passed beyond our ken, but we are not beyond theirs. If 
our eyes were open, who knows but that we could see 
those who have gone from us and yet have not gone 
from us !" 

LILIAN WHITING, author of "Spiritual Significance, ' ' 
"The World Beautiful," "After Her Death," "From 
Dreamland Sent," "Kate Field,— a record," "Study of 
Mrs. E. B. Browning," etc. — "Spiritualism has not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil. It has come to fulfil the hopes 
and longings of human life and to inform them with 
the vitality of faith and conviction. It has come to trans- 
form the present. Has not the time arrived when we 
must all be ' strenuous ' in our unceasing combat of the 
idea that the faith of Spiritualism begins and ends with 
a belief in communication between those in the Seen 
and in the Unseen? That is but one fact in a chain of 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 95 

noble and comprehensive philosophy and a philosophy 
that holds in solution the entire eternal processes of 
life. It is as if one regarded conversation, or the writ- 
ing of letters, or the sending of telegrams, as compre- 
hending the entire life of humanity, whereas mutual com- 
munication is one fact only in a complicated system of 
living. Now Spiritualism, in its true and entire sense, 
includes all economic and social advances of the race; 
all the inventions and discoveries of science; all the 
higher truths that may be embodied in literary and in 
ethical expression; because the initial condition of all 
these various trends of expression that make up progress, 
is that of a true conception of the nature of man and 
his relation to the visible universe. When we realize 
the absolute oneness of existence ; that death is no break, 
no crisis, but merely an event in life ; when we realize the 
nature of the process, — 

"'Eternal process moving on; 
From state to state the spirit walks,' — 

we find in it a new encouragement to activity, a new 
stimulus for all important acquirement, and a new dis- 
crimination of value regarding the significant pursuits 
of life.' ' 

REV. DR. DE COSTA says: "We do not know how the 
communication is maintained, but we may believe that we 
have communion with the departed; that in going away 
they come near; that in birth is comprehension and in 
death expansion. The dead may prove as valuable to 
us as the living. It is unfortunate that the church does 
not make as much of this thought as it might or should. ' ' 
— New York Herald. 



96 What Is Spiritualism? 

GERALD MASSEY, poet and author, says: " Spiritual- 
ism will make religion infinitely more' real, and translate 
it from the domain of belief to that of life. It has been 
to me, in common with many others, such a lifting of the 
mental horizon and a letting in of the heavens — such a 
transformation of faiths into facts — that I can only com- 
pare life without if to sailing on board ship with hatches 
battened down, and being kept prisoner, cribbed, cabined, 
and confined, living by the light of a candle — dark to 
the glory overhead, and blind to a thousand possibilities 
of being — and then suddenly on some starry night al- 
lowed to go on deck for the first time to see the stupen- 
dous mechanism of the starry heavens all aglow with the 
glory of God, to feel that vast vision glittering in the 
eyes, bewilderingly beautiful, and drink in new life with 
every breath of this wondrous liberty, which makes you 
dilate almost large enough in soul to fill the immensity 
which you see around you. ,, 

JOEL TIFFANY (Chicago), author, essayist, and an emi- 
nent jurist was a Spiritualist. 

RT. REV. WILLIAM H. MQRELAND, Bishop, Sacramento, 

Cal., says: — 

"As a Christian and a spiritual being I believe that 
communications with the spiritual world are reasonable 
and to be expected ; indeed, that our whole religion reveals 
it and requires it, and that as a matter of fact we prac- 
tice intercourse with the spiritual world every day of 
our lives." 

HENRY C. WRIGHT, anti-slavery author and lecturer, 
says : — 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 97 

" Spiritualism demonstrates the continuity of life 
here and hereafter; and if its principles were lived, 
slavery of all kinds would soon die and liberty and love 
would reign supreme." 

REV. JESSE BABCOCK FERGUSON, writer, author, and 
eloquent church pastor in Nashville, Tenn., was induced 
by one of the most cultured members of his church to 
investigate the spiritual phenomena. He did so. They 
interested him from the first deeply. He could not resist 
the repeated evidences. He became a Spiritualist and 
preached it under its proper name from his pulpit. 
Heresy became the cry. He left a fine salary, joined 
the Davenport brothers, and traveled with them in Europe 
in 1865, spending some time with them in Russia. 

DWIGHT I. MOODY, the evangelist, died a Spiritualist. 
When this great American preacher was holding a series 
of meetings in San Diego, Cal., several years since, I was 
among his attentive listeners, and when nearly through 
with his engagement in the interests of converting 
human souls, I wrote him two letters, publishing them 
in the San Diego Vidette. In these letters I conscien- 
tiously urged him to investigate Spiritualism and ac- 
company me on a missionary tour around the world. 
My purpose was to secure him, Mr. Sankey to sing, and 
Mrs. Freitag or Mrs. Foye, to give tests on the voyage. 
He did not accept my invitation, and soon after sick- 
ened and died. I am now doing this evangelizing — this 
missionary work alone. He died a Spiritualist. The 
Detroit Tribune, the Chicago Press, and other journals,. 
in treating of Mr. Moody's death, say, "He was natural, 
patient, and thoughtful to the last. He seemed to feel 



98 What Is Spiritualism? 

that his hard breathing might disturb his watching loved 
ones. . . . And in the early morning near the closing 
scene, coming out of a sinking spell, he said :— 

" 'I am going out of this old tenement—going up 
higher into a house that is immortal, — into a body that 
death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fash- 
ioned like unto His own glorious body. ' . . . The doctor, 
thinking him sinking again, stepped to his bedside to 
administer another hypodermic injection. 

" 'Is there anything gained by thisT asked Mr. 
Moody. 

" ' Nothing, except to give you strength and relieve 
your suffering.' 

" "Then I think we will stop, for it is only prolonging 
the sufferings of those who are dear to me. . . . Earth 
is receding. Heaven is approaching. God and his holy 
angels are calling me. ... If this is death, there is no 
valley. This is glorious. I have been within the gates, 
— and I have seen the children, Dwight and Irene/ " 
These were his two grandchildren who had passed to 
spirit life. 

Now, then, did this dying evangelist, Moody, tell the 
truth? If so, he had already been "within the gates" 
—he had heard "the angels calling him," he had seen 
his spirit grandchildren, Irene and Dwight. And further, 
if his dying testimony be true, then Spiritualism is true. 
Moody died a Spiritualist. 

MRS. MARY FLETCHER— This devoted Methodist and 
"Mother in Israel," as she was often called, was gifted 
with revelations and marvelous spiritual manifestations. 
The authoress of Adam Bede, in writing of Eev. Mr. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 99 

Fletcher and wife, and the old-time Methodists, says: 
1 ' They believed in miracles (spiritual manifestations), in 
instantaneous conversions, spiritual revelations, dreams, 
and visions. . . . They sought for divine guidance by 
opening the Bible at hazard, and had a literal way of in- 
terpreting the Scriptures which is not at all sanctioned 
by scholastic commentaries. Mrs. Fletcher, in a state 
of ecstasy, had a visible manifestation of Jesus, and 
she was recognized as being devoutly religious and pious 
in her daily life. ' ' 

Her diary and letters abound with phrases and forms 
that were quite commonly used among the early Quakers, 
such as, ' i These things were laid on my mind, ' ' — ' ' These 
thoughts were impressed upon my heart,' ' — "It was 
opened before me in vision,' ' — "The thoughts which 
flowed into my mind," — "Something seemed to whisper," 
— "I then found, as it were, a conversation carried on in 
my mind," — "The clear leadings of the spirit inclined me 
to remark." She affirms, "Night and day I have a sense 
of safety, I feel as if the angels encamped ' round about 
me.' There seems such a communion opened between the 
family below and that above, as I cannot express." "I 
have communion with my heavenly friends above, and 
none below can harm or injure me." Both the Eev. Mr. 
Fletcher and his wife, according to their biographers, 
communed not only with the i Lord of hosts, ' but with the 
angels, and also in heavenly dreams and in night visions 
they had sweet and heavenly communications with the 
departed dead. Sometimes their communications were 
received in mystic symbols. In October, 1784, Mrs. 



100 What Is Spiritualism? 

Fletcher gives a most vivid description of an " appari- 
tion," — a spirit whom she recognized. . . . 

M. JAMES JOSEPH JACQUES TISSOT, late author and 
painter of the life of Christ.— Spiritualists, however, will 
remember M. Tissot best for his exquisite picture en- 
titled, "Apparition Medianimique, ' ' representing two 
spirit forms which showed themselves through the medi* 
umship of Mr. Eglington, one of them that of Mr. Eg- 
lington's spirit friend, " Ernest,' ' and the other that of 
M. Tissot 's departed fiancee. 

DR. OSGOOD MASQft in his fine volume entitled "Telep- 
athy and the Subliminal Self," without going as deeply 
into phenomenal spiritism and its evidences as Dr. Gibier 
Has gone, does not hesitate to exclaim, ' ' Spiritualism has 
now been on trial for more than fifty years. At first it 
was ridiculed by nearly everybody, later it was received 
as true, for the most part uncritically, by a multitude of 
people numbering, probably, millions. The work of the 
last twenty years has been an examination, carefully con- 
ducted by fair-minded, capable men, of the phenomena 
upon which Spiritualism is based, as well as a more crit- 
ical discussion of its theories and claims. ... A greater 
number of educated people, unprejudiced and anxious 
only to find the truth, are engaged upon the problems of 
spiritualism now than ever before in its history. ' ' Then, 
after discussing the pros and cons of the "subjective 
mind" theory popularly associated with the name of 
Thomas Jay Hudson, author of "The Law of Psychic 
Phenomena" and "The Scientific Basis of a Future 
Life," Dr. Mason continues: "If these messages pur- 
porting to come from spirit existences really are only 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 101 

the product of the subconscious mind, then all the sub- 
conscious minds that have reported themselves have 
agreed to lie, for they almost uniformly declare that they 
are spirits formerly inhabiting human bodies. Such a 
stupendous lie is hardly supposable." 

D. D. HOME was in Eome in 1863, taking a deep inter- 
est in sculpturing. Known to be a Spiritualist medium, 
he was watched. On the second of January he was sum- 
moned before the Eoman police, interrogated concerning 
his mediumship, and was ordered by the Governor of 
Eome, Matteucci, expressing the will of the cardinal and 
the pope, to leave the city on the ground of '■■■ sorcery," 
and the fascination connected with the practice of the 
black art. . . . 

It is well known that the crowned heads of Europe 
attended Mr. Home's seances, — Napoleon, the Eussian 
Czar, and others. In 1864 the great English Commoner, 
John Bright, Sir Chas. Nicholson, Sir E. B. Lytton, Sir 
Daniel Cooper, Dr. Eobert Chambers, Mr. John Euskin, 
and other celebrities attended Home's seance at the resi- 
dence of Mrs. MacDougall Gregory, a Scottish Spiritual- 
ist, living in Grosvenor Street, and widow of the distin- 
guished Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh. Euskin had 
a number of seances with Home, but his diplomacy over- 
shadowing his courage, he was always cautious about 
averring any convictions. His printed correspondence, 
always commencing ' ' My Dear Mr. Home, ' r was very in- 
teresting. 

JOHN BRIGHT, in a letter dated "4 Hanover St., May 
6, 64,' ' addressed to Mr. S. C. Hall, relating to a seance 
with Home, writes: " Would Wednesday night, the 



102 What Is Spiritualism? 

eleventh inst., suit you for another sitting with Mr. 
Home! Mr. Tite, member of Parliament, whom I think 
yon know, has several times expressed to me his great 
wish to be present on an occasion when manifestations 
may be expected. ... I hope you will be able to arrange 
with Mr. Home^, and that he will not think me 

intrusive. ' ' 

# # 

When in England in 1869, accompanied by Mr. Bailie, 
a noted poet, I spent an afternoon with John Bright at 
his elegant home in Rochdale. After conversing upon 
the genius of the English and American Governments, 
our small standing army, and the great expensive stand- 
ing armies of Europe, I turned purposely to the subject 
of arbitration, which he favored, and later to Spiritual- 
ism, when Mr. Bright said in substance: "I have wit- 
nessed a number of D. D. Home's manifestations. They 
were truly wonderful. I can attribute them to no cause 
except it be the one alleged, that of intelligent, disembod- 
ied spirits. But., ' ' he added, with considerable caution — a 
caution prominent among politicians and statesmen,— "I 
do not say that this is so ; but if it be true, it is the strong- 
est tangible proof we have of immortality." Is it cow- 
ardice, or an overmastering timidity that seals so many 
statesmen's lips upon this momentous subject, the demon- 
strated proof of a future existence? 

In D. D. Home's "Life and Mission," by his wife (p. 
15), is a declaration signed by D. A. Wells, a Harvard 
University professor ; William Bryant, the distinguished 
poet, and others, describing the manifestations witnessed 
in a seance room at Mr. Elmer's, Springfield, Mass., the 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 103 

closing words of which are, "We know that (in his 
seance with D. 1). Home) we were not imposed upon nor 
deceived." Speaking of the poet Bryant brings to mind 
that when in Florence, Italy, the guest of Baron Kirkup, 
I saw in an .elegant card-case the card of Longfellow. I 
said to the Baron: — 

"I infer from this card that you have met the poet 
Longfellow f" 

"Yes, I beg to say that I was honored with his pres- 
ence as a guest, and a most amiable and cultured gen- 
tleman he was. You see I have some of his poems, which 
I admire because they abound in Spiritualism," passing 
me the volume which had these lines and other passages 
marked. . . . 

"Did he clearly avow himself a Spiritualist ?" 

"He assuredly did during several conversations, and, 
further, greatly enjoyed some spirit seances in this 
room." 

My slowly uttered reply was : "I supposed him to be 
a Spiritualist, but I was not aware that he had ever 
openly admitted it in America. . . . " 

When traveling in the South of Europe a number of 
years ago, and visiting Rome, I was introduced to his 
Highness, George, Prince of Solms, a most earnest Spirit- 
ualist. He had been converted to Spiritualism by sitting 
in the seances of Mr. Home at Ryde, in 1862. I last met 
him on Pincain Hill, in Rome, the environments of which 
were indescribably beautiful. Standing by a fountain, 
where we were watching the silvery sprays, he remarked, 
"How sweet the thought that in the highlands of the 
hereafter fountains never cease to flow, flowers to bloom, 



104 What Is Spiritualism,® 

nor are good-byes ever heard, ' ' and with these heartfelt 
words he extended the parting hand. It was warm with 
friendship. 

LORD LINDSAY was a frequent attendant in Mr. Home's 
seances, while the Earl of Dunraven and his son, then 
Lord Adair, made a record of eighty of these seances 
which were printed in a volume for private circulation. 

LORD HOWDEN, a former British Minister to Madrid, 
was a firm Spiritualist, giving D. D. Home letters of in- 
troduction to the British Ambassadors at Vienna and 
Constantinople. 

Home gave seances to the King of Wurtemburg. . . . 
Meeting Mr. Home again at Baden-Baden, he inquired 
about the "spirits," and expressed "deep gratitude at 
the light they had given him of futurity.' 9 

PROFESSOR VON BOUTLEROW, of the Academy of 
Science, St. Petersburg, attending Mr. Home's seances > 
admitted after a long and scientifically conducted series 
of experiments, the genuineness of the phenomena, and 
came to the same conclusion that did the illustrious scien- 
tist and chemist, Sir William Crookes. 

ALEXANDER II, Emperor of Eussia and her Majesty 
the Empress, invited Mr. Home to their Winter Palace, 
where they received striking and convincing tests and 
manifestations, touching the Empire and the future Em- 
peror. Alexander II so esteemed Mr. Home, and so fully 
accepted his spirit manifestations that upon Mr. Home's 
marriage he sent him a splendid ring, the setting of a 
magnificent sapphire surrounded with diamonds. . . . 

Mr. Home, in writing upon this and other matters re- 
lating to Spiritualism and the Emperor, said: "His 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 105 

most gracious Majesty upon this, as upon every occa- 
sion, has shown me the greatest kindness, and I have 
the highest veneration for him, not only as a monarch, 
but as a man of the most kind and generous feelings." 
(This was written in 1858.) 

COUNT ALEXIS TOLSTOY, groomsman at Home's wed- 
ding, was a zealous Spiritualist. This Alexis Tolstoy, 
a poet, was a namesake of the great novelist, Count 
Tolstoy. 

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON had Mr. Home at the Tuile- 
ries several times to witness the spirit manifestations. 
The Emperor selected five personages of the court, tak- 
ing their seats at the table and placing their hands upon 
it. The table soon vibrated, then trembled, and was 
then lifted up from the floor. Then came raps upon the 
table. Eesponses were spelled out, and the mental ques- 
tions of the Emperor satisfactorily answered. 

The Emperor brought the Empress into the room. 
Sitting at the table, she soon said, "I feel the hand 
of my father in mine." 

"How could you distinguish it!" asked the Emperor 
incredulously. 

"I could distinguish it among a thousand," an- 
swered the Empress, "from a defect in one of the fingers, 
just as it was in life. As it lay in mine I satisfied myself 
of this defect. ' ' 

The Emperor in his turn was touched by the hand, 
and verified the fact of the defect referred to by the 
Empress. . . . 

At another seance in the Tuileries, the Emperor and 
members of the Court, Prince Murat, Lord Dunraven, 



106 What Is Spiritualism? 

and other distinguished persons being present, the mas- 
sive table rose up and floated; it would sometimes be 
very heavy, then light as a feather. Phenomena similar 
to this were witnessed by Sir William Crookes. (See 
Quarterly Journal of Science, 1871.) 

At the third of the Tuileries seances, the light sub- 
dued, a hand appeared, moved across the table, lifted 
the pencil and wrote on a sheet of paper the single word, 
"Napoleon." The writing was the recognized autograph 
of the Emperor Napoleon ; the hand small and beautifully 
formed as his is recorded to have been. 

The Empress, moved by the sight of the hand, re- 
quested permission to kiss it, and it placed itself to her 
lips, then to the lips of the Emperor. The hand was 
distinctly seen. This seance, like all others at the Tuil- 
eries, was held in a good light. ("Life and Mission of 
Home," p. 78.) 

It was reported that these marvelous spirit manifes- 
tations did not convince the Emperor Napoleon of the 
truth of Spiritualism, nor of the moral integrity of Mr. 
Home, to which Prince Murat replied as follows : ' ' When 
you left the room, the Emperor leaned forward with his 
arms on the table and said in the most impressive 
manner, ' Whoever says that Home is a charlatan, is a 
liar.' " To the Duke de Morney the Emperor said later, 
"I have had proof of these manifestations, and I am 
certain of what I have seen." ("Life and Mission of 
Home," p. 79.) 

ABRAM H. DAILEY (Brooklyn, N. Y.), a writer, 
author, and distinguished jurist — a gentleman doing an 
extensive legal practice, and having convictions, has also 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 107 

the moral courage, like the eminent Judge Edmonds be- 
fore him, to defend them. In 1863 he was elected justice 
of the Fourth District Court of Brooklyn. In 1875 he 
was elected Surrogate of the County of Kings. Judge 
Dailey has written several published essays upon hypno- 
tism ; its relation to medico-legal jurisprudence. He was 
a member of the psychological congress which convened 
at Chicago during the Columbian Exposition, where he 
read a voluminous paper upon the celebrated case of 
Mollie Fancher of Brooklyn. Later, he published a book 
on her life. He is ex-President of the Medico-legal So- 
ciety of New York, and President of the Lake Pleas- 
ant Spiritualist Camp-meeting. 

MISS MOLLIE FANCHER is not only a mere clairvoyant, 
but she has other spiritual gifts. Among other things 
her biographer, Judge Dailey, reports: — 

""Well, as I have said, my vision is not always the 
same; much depends how I am feeling, and the weather 
conditions. Sometimes the whole top of my head seems 
on fire with the influx of light; my range of vision is 
very great, and my sight astonishingly clear. Then again 
it seems as if I were seeing through a smoked glass, and 
my vision or consciousness of things is dim and indis- 
tinct. Sometimes I can see all through the house. ,, 
(Page 230.) 

"I am convinced . . . that it is not at all times nec- 
essary for her [Miss F.] to be in that [the trance] con- 
dition to exercise the phenomena of so-called second sight. 
I have seen it manifested on several occasions" (George 
F. Sargent, p. 105). 

It was my good fortune some forty years ago to visit 



108 What Is Spiritualism? 

Miss Fancher in connection with MISS RHODA FULLER, 
a Spiritualist medium and niece of President Mil- 
lard Filmore. Upon being introduced and taking our 
seats, she remarked, "I knew you were coming. I saw 
you as you opened the gate." Miss Fuller inquired, 
"How could you thus see us?" 

She replied, "I see with my inner eyes, which are 
called clairvoyant eyes. I see people both in their bodies 
and out of their bodies. This is to me as much a marvel 
as it is to you." 

Though confined to her bed for long weary years and 
unable to move at times only a hand, an arm, or the 
neck, she seemed composed and comparatively happy. 
This visit made a very deep impression upon my mind, 
demonstrating the fact that a person can live in two 
worlds at the same time ; the physical and the spiritual. 

PROF. CESARE LOMBROSQ, the illustrious Italian scien- 
tist and criminologist, created a great sensation in Italy 
by writing to the Press — ' ' I am ashamed and grieved at 
having opposed with so much tenacity the possibility of 
the so-called Spiritualistic facts — the facts exist and I 
boast of being a slave to facts." He further declared — 
"There can be no doubt that genuine Spiritualistic phe- 
nomena are produced by intelligences totally independent 
of the medium and the parties present at the seances. On 
many occasions I have found this to be the case, a notable 
instance being when three spirits appeared in the room 
together, each at a considerable distance from the others, 
and each producing distinct phenomena/' 

"On one occasion Dr. Imoda observed that whilst 
a phantom took out of M. 'Becker's hand a pen and re- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 109 

turned it to him, another phantom rested its brow on 
that of Dr. Imoda, and on another occasion, whilst I 
was being caressed by a phantom, the Princess Ruspoli 
felt herself touched on the head by a hand and Dr. Imoda 
felt his hand forcibly pressed by another hand. I have 
been present at one hundred, at least, of these spiritistic 
experiments. I have seen them at Milan, at Genoa, at 
Naples, at Turin, and at Venice. I am perfectly con- 
vinced of the authenticity of the phenomena presented by 
Paladino. ... I was present one day when a pot of 
flowers, weighing from thirty to forty pounds, made a 
flight through the air. This pot, originally placed sev- 
eral yards away from us, rose of its own 9 accord, then 
hovered about our heads, and finally came to rest on 
the table. On another occasion I had the happiness of 
seeing my mother again, and of embracing her and con- 
versing with her. ' ' 

T, SIDNEY COOPER, R. A., the great painter, heard spirit 
voices and saw picture-visions. 

DR. CHIAIA, of Naples, brought, in 1892, the illiterate 
peasant woman, Paladino, gifted with mediumship, to 
Milan to meet a scientific commission for the investiga- 
tion of the spirit phenomena. Several of these scientists 
were out-and-out materialists and bitterly prejudiced 
against Spiritualism. The commission held seventeen sit- 
tings. Among the phenomena were the following: "The 
weight of the medium under varying magnetic condi- 
tions was found to range from a minimum of 100 pounds 
to a maximum of 154 pounds. Different articles put upon 
the table were agitated and lifted up into the air by in- 
visible hands, and at the request of the committee, one 



110 What Is Spiritualism? 

of the spirits present, struck the head of each person in 
the seance room." The report declared that all idea 
of the phenomena being produced by the medium, must 
be dismissed as an impossibility. This document was 
signed by Alexander Aksakof, Privy Councillor to the 
Emperor of Russia and editor of the Psychische Studien; 
Prof. G. Schiapparelli, Director of the Observatory at 
Milan ; Carl du Prel, Doctor of Philosophy at Munich ; A. 
Brofferio, Professor of Philosophy in the Manzoni Col- 
lege at Milan; G-. Geresa, Professor of Physics in the 
Government School of Science and Agriculture at Paris ; 
Cesare Lombroso, Professor of Legal Medicine at the 
University, Portici; Charles Richet, Professor of Medi- 
cine in the Sarbonne at Paris; F. D' Amicis, Director 
of Claims in the University of Naples; 0. G. B. Erma- 
cora, and G. Finizi, both of them doctors of medicine 
and students in the psychic sciences. 

Here were ten men occupying the highest positions 
in Europe for scholarship, science, and philosophy, tes- 
tifying to the reality of the spirit manifestations, after 
the most careful and crucial investigations. They were 
trained scientists. 

RAOUL PICTET, professor in the Genoa University, de- 
livered a lecture May, 1893, in the hall of the University 
of Liege, in Belgium, testifying of his adhesion to Spir- 
itualism, saying, U I am constrained to do so by the in- 
vincible logic of facts." 

DR. MIGUEL SANS BENITO, professor of metaphysics, 
logic, and philosophy in the University of Barcelona, 
author of "The Spiritual Science" and other works, is 
a devoted Spiritualist. He affirms and publishes that,— 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 111 

"Spiritualism is the synthesis of the most important 
principles and discoveries of science; and that we may 
advantageously study it with the firm assurance that it 
will open out new horizons to our intelligence; besides 
supplying our hearts with a beautiful consolation in 
those bitter moments of our lives, which are occasioned 
by a painful bereavement. ' * 

M. T. FALCOMER, late professor in the Technical In- 
stitute and the Minister of Public Instruction at Alless- 
andria, in Piedmont, is an enthusiastic Spiritualist, de- 
claring that the spiritual phenomena afford "the only 
positive proofs of a future conscious existence.' ' 

HERE, MAX SEILING, professor of polytechnics in the 
University of Helsingfors, the oldest in Russia, doubted 
the continuation of man's existence; but through the 
mediumistic gifts of Madame d'Esperance, a lady of 
both culture and fortune, he was forced by the most con- 
clusive evidences to confess the grand truth of a present 
converse with spirits, once clothed in mortality. 

OCHOROWICZ, the learned professor in the University 
of Warsaw, was induced in the latter part of 1894 to 
study the psychic phenomena under the most rigorous 
test conditions of mediums. Having previously studied, 
he was considered an authority in magnetism and hypno- 
tism — and now he was bound to get at the bottom of what 
was denominated * ' Spiritualism. ' ' After being fully con- 
vinced of its truth he said : "I found I had done a great 
wrong to men who had proclaimed new truths at the cost 
of their positions. And now, when I remembei that I 
branded as a fool that fearless investigator, Crookes, the 
inventor of the radiometer, because he had the courage 



112 What Is Spiritualism,® 

to assert the reality of mediumistic phenomena, and to 
subject them to scientific tests; and when I also recollect 
that I used to read his articles upon Spiritualism with 
the same stupid style as his colleagues in the British As- 
sociation bestowed upon them, regarding him as crazy, 
I am ashamed both of myself and others, and I cry from 
the very bottom of my heart, Father, I have sinned 
against the light!' " 

MARGHIERI, the erudite professor of the physical 
sciences in the University of Naples, and Dr. Giulio Bel- 
fiore, author of that profound work upon " Hypnotism 
and Its Therapeutic Effects," are both outspoken and 
active Spiritualists. And so, Professor Armand Saba- 
tier, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Director of the 
Zoological Institute at Montpellier — one of the greatest 
minds in Europe, has been for some time studying psychic 
phenomena — and it is credibly reported that he has be- 
come convinced of the truth of Spiritualism. 

No intelligent, conscientious, and right-minded person 
can investigate the psychic phenomena without becoming 
a Spiritualist. Accumulated evidences force conviction. 
Faith blossoms into knowledge. Spiritualism reaffirms 
and reiterates the pure doctrines of primitive Christian- 
ity. It sweeps aside the monstrous absurdities that have 
been grafted upon it, such as the blood-atonement dog- 
ma, infant damnation, and endless hell torments. These 
horrible doctrines have cursed the very name of Chris- 
tianity, and given agnostics and atheists their ammuni- 
tion for perpetual warfare. The Christian nations of 
the earth, so it seems to me, are so deeply immersed in 
barbarous ignorance, in bigoted intolerance, in religious 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 113 

superstition, and in spiritual darkness that nothing but 
the higher spiritual revelations which are being received 
all over the globe, from the discarnate dwellers in the 
Unseen, could have prevented the so-called civilized races 
of the earth from sinking into a condition of degrada- 
tion and moral depravity resembling that which pre- 
ceded the destruction of the great Roman Empire. 
Spiritualism in its higher and diviner aspects, and 
Spiritualism alone, will yet convict — conquer, and re- 
deem the world. 

PROF. JOSEPH RHODES BUCHANAN, M. D., the learned 
discoverer of psychometry and sarcognomy, writer upon 
metaphysics, author of "System of Anthropology, ' ' "The 
New Education,' ' "Manual of Psychometry," and a pro- 
nounced adept in true Theosophy, was for many years 
a most distinguished, outspoken Spiritualist. 

HON. LUTHER MARSH, New York (once the law part^ 
ner of Daniel Webster, the great Constitutional ex- 
pounder of law) , jurist, law compiler, writer, and author, 
was a firm and pronounced Spiritualist. 

RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, politician and far-seeing 
statesman, cautiously says : "I shall not adopt language 
of determined disbelief in all manifestations, real or sup- 
posed, from the other world. They give me little satis- 
faction, but that does not warrant meeting them with a 
negative. ... I know of no rule which forbids a Chris- 
tian to examine into the system called Spiritualism. ' ' 

JOHN G. WHITTIER, the good Quaker poet, in his ad- 
dress at William Lloyd Garrison's funeral, said: "Our 
beloved Garrison's faith in the continuity of life was 
very positive. He trusted more to the phenomena of 



114 What Is Spiritualism? 

Spiritualism than I can, however. My faith is not helped 
by them,, and yet I wish I could see real truth in them. 
I do believe, apart from all outward signs, in the future 
life, and that the happiness of that life, as of this, will 
consist of labor and self-sacrifice. ' ' 

He was deeply interested in the higher Spiritualistic 
phenomena. They seemed to him to be in harmony with 
the spirit that moved the Quakers in their ablest ad- 
dresses. I learned from a most reliable source that a 
few days before his departure from earth, and virtual- 
ly on his death-bed, he remarked to a personal friend 
that he had seen and held a lengthy conversation with 
the spirit daughter of the late Senator G. W. Morrill, a 
young lady whom he most highly esteemed, and who 
herself was quite a poet. How sweet the following 
lines : — 

" I touched the garment-hem of truth, 
Yet saw not all its splendor. 

* *' * 

"And slowly learns the world the truth, 
That makes us all thy debtor, 
That holy life is more than writ, 
And spirit more than letter. 

* v * 

" For truth's worst foe is he who claims 

The act as God's avenger, 
And deems, beyond his sentry beat, 
The crystal walls in danger. 

" When on my day of life the night is falling, 

And, in the winds from unsunned spaces blown, 
I hear far voices out of darkness calling 
My feet to paths unknown." 

Again, Whittier writes Chas. F. Bates: "I have heard 



Who Are These Spiritualists 9 115 

Garrison talk much of his faith in Spiritualism. He had 
no doubt, whatever, and he was very happy. Death was 
to him but the passing from one room to another and 
a higher one. ... I wonder whether if I could see a real 
spirit I should believe my own senses. I do sometimes 
feel very near to dear ones who have left me. Of one 
thing I feel sure: Something outside of myself speaks 
to me and holds me to duty, warns, reproves and ap- 
proves. It is good, for it requires me to be good; it 
is wise, for it knows the thoughts and interests of the 
heart. It is to me a revelation of God, and of his char- 
acter and attributes ; the one important fact before which 
all others seem insignificant. ' ' 

LONGFELLOW, the Tennyson of America, attended 
spiritual seances when traveling afar in Italy, and freely 
expressed his belief in an open communion between the 
visible and the unseen world. And accordingly he wrote : 
"The spiritual world lies all about us, and its avenues 
are open to the unseen feet of phantoms that come and 
go, and we perceive them not save by their influence, or 
when at times a most mysterious providence permits 
them to manifest themselves to mortal eyes. . . . 

"There is no death; what seems so is transition. 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian 
Whose portal we call death. 

" Then the forms of the departed. 
Enter at the open dcor; 
The beloved ones, the true-hearted 
Come to visit us once more." 



116 What Is Spiritualism? 

HON. BENJAMIN F. WADE, of Ohio, ex-President of the 
Senate, and United States Senator, and ex-Senator How- 
ard, of Michigan, were avowed Spiritualists. It was 
largely through the influence of these two Senators and 
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, that I was sent into 
Asiatic Turkey as a United States Consul. 

PROF. W. F. BARRETT, F. R. S. R, Professor of Experi- 
mental Physics and Dean of the Faculty of the Eoyal 
College of Sciences, Ireland, says : — 

"The impressive fact of the spirit phenomena is the 
intelligence behind them and the evidence of an unseen 
individuality as distinct as our own." 

Other further investigators and distinguished scien- 
tists add their testimony: — 

PROF. G. J. FECHNER, Professor of Physics and Nat- 
ural Philosophy, Leipsic, author of "The Soul of Plants," 
"The Zendavesta," "The Things of the Future," "Ele- 
ments of Psycho-Physics," "The Problem of the Soul," 
and "About the Life Hereafter." 

PROF. EDWARD WEBER, Professor of Physics, Ger- 
many, and founder (with his brother) of the doctrine of 
the vibration of forces, author of "Electro-Dynamic 
Measurement" (four volumes). No scientific reputation 
stands higher in Germany than that of Weber. 

PROF. J. C. F, ZOLLNER, Professor of Physical Astron- 
omy at the University of Leipsic, Member of the Royal 
Saxon Society of Sciences, Foreign Member of the Royal 
Astronomical Society of London, of the Imperial Acad- 
emy of National Philosophy at Moscow, Honorary Mem- 
ber of the Psychical Association, Frankfort, of the Scien- 
tific Society of Psychological Studies at Paris, etc., of 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 117 

the British National Association of Spiritualists, London. 
We cannot do better than quote the glowing tribute by 
Zollner to Sir William Crookes in the dedication of his 
volume, ' ' Transcendental Physics ' ' : — 

"With the feeling of sincere gratitude, and recogni- 
tion of your immortal deserts in the foundation of a new- 
Science, I dedicate to you, highly honoured colleague, 
this third volume of Scientific Treatises. By a strange 
conjunction our scientific endeavors have met upon the 
same field of light and of a new class of physical phe- 
nomena which proclaim to astonished mankind, with as- 
surance no longer doubtful, the existence of another ma- 
terial and intelligent world. ... To you ingratitude and 
scorn have been abundantly dealt out by the blind repre- 
sentatives of modern science, and by the multitude be- 
fooled by their erroneous teachings. May you be con- 
soled by the consciousness that the undying splendor 
with which the names of a Newton and a Faraday have 
illustrated the history of the English people can be ob- 
scured by nothing; not even by the political decline of 
your great nation ; even so will your name survive in the 
history of culture, adding a new ornament to those with 
which the English nation has endowed the human race. 
Your courage, your admirable acuteness in experiment, 
and your incomparable perseverance, will raise for you 
a memorial in the hearts of grateful posterity as inde- 
structible as the marble of the statues of Westminster. 
Accept, then, this work as a token of thanks and sym- 
pathy poured out to you from an honest German heart. ' ' 

PROF. It. VON ESENBECH, President Eoyal Academy of 
Sciences, Germany. 



118 What Is Spiritualism? 

REV. JOHN PAGE HOPPS, author "Pessimism, Science, 
and God, 9 ' editor of The Coming Day, book reviewer, and 
pastor of a liberal Condon church. 

REICHENBACH, while the discoverer of od, odylic ema- 
nations that flowed from crystals, flowers, and human 
brains, was an investigator of Spiritualism. To this end 
the Spiritual Magazine, London (Vol. 11, pp. 508-11), has 
this interesting communication concerning the Baron: 
"Whilst here in London, Baron Eeichenbach, for the first 
time, saw many of the phenomena of Spiritualism which 
he investigated with the greatest care." No man with 
the investigating tendencies and scholarly research of 
Eeichenbach could witness these phenomena without be- 
coming a convert to their genuineness. 

W. M. THACKERAY "It is very well for you,— wha 

have probably never seen any spiritual manifestations, 
to talk as you do ; but if you had seen what I have wit- 
nessed, you would hold a different opinion. ' ' 

MR. (AND MRS.) S. C. HALL, F s S. A., editor Art Journal, 
writes : — 

"The mockers and scoffers at Spiritualism are al- 
most exclusively those who have seen nothing of it, know 
nothing about it, and will not inquire concerning it." 

This distinguished writer and reviewer further says : 
"Spiritualism has made me a Christian. I humbly and 
fervently thank God it has removed all my doubts. I 
could quote abundant instances of conversions from un- 
belief to belief — of some to perfect faith from total in- 
fidelity. I am permitted to give one name; it is that of 
Dr. Ellitson, who expresses his deep gratitude to Al- 
mighty God for the blessed change that has been wrought 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 119 

in his heart and mind by Spiritualism. When this is the 
standpoint of the believer in the highest aspects of Spirit- 
ualism, it is obvious that we have to deal with no more 
commonplace infatuation, which can be brushed aside 
with indifference or contempt, but rather with a move- 
ment which is firmly established in all enlightened lands." 

LORD RAYLEIGH, F. R. S., Professor of Physics in the 
University of Cambridge. 

PROFESSOR SCHEEBNER, teacher of mathematics in the 
University of Leipsic. 

DR. FRANZ HOFFMAN, Professor of Philosophy, Wurtz- 
burg University. 

PROFESSOR WAGNER, geologist and scientist, Univers- 
ity of Russia. 

EMILIO CASTELAR* the great Spanish orator and pa- 
triot. 

PROF. WM. GREGORY, Edinburgh; Lord Dunraven, 
Lord Adair, Flaxman, and Blake ; the latter two, writers, 
artists, and painters. 

HIRAM POWERS, with whom I had a most charming in- 
terview in his studio in Florence, was not only a famous 
sculptor, but a firm and outspoken Spiritualist. 

HON. GEORGE THOMPSON, the bosom friend of Wm. 
Lloyd Garrison, and who had traveled and lectured with 
him extensively all over the United States in the anti- 
slavery movement, was an acknowledged Spiritualist. 

HON. N. P. TALMAGE, United States Senator and Gov- 
ernor of Wisconsin, during 1859-61-62, was associated 
with Judge Edmonds in investigating Spiritualism. It 
is hardly necessary to say he became a devoted Spirit- 
ualist. 



120 What Is Spiritualism f 

HON. J. L. SULLIVAN, formerly our Minister to Portu- 
gal, was a sincere Spiritualist and wrote extensively upon 
Spiritualism. 

OLIVER JOHNSON, formerly editor of the Christian 
Union, plainly, firmly expressed his views of a conscious 
intercommunion between the world's visible and invisible. 

THE REV. JOHN PIERPONT, many years a Unitarian 
clergyman of Boston, writer, poet, author, was a devoted 
Spiritualist, and presided at the National Convention of 
Spiritualists once convening in Providence, R. I. 

EPES SARGENT, editor Boston Transcript, author, 
" Scientific Basis of Spiritualism, ' ' " Proof Palpable of 
Immortality," "The Standard Speaker," "Planchette, 
the Despair of Science," and twenty-two volumes on 
"Etymology," was an enthusiastic Spiritualist. 

In writing to an English review, Mr. Sargent said: 

"A pure and simple Theism — what I believe to have 
been the religion of Christ himself — freed from all eccle- 
siastical limitations and theological subtleties, is for me 
the culmination of Spiritualism. 'God and Immortality' 
sums it all up. At the same time I see no reason why 
a man should not be a very thorough Spiritualist, and, 
at the same time, hold to some liberal form of Chris- 
tianty. Your Imperator speaks my own long-held views. 
. . . Without the religious element, Spiritualism will 
degenerate into mere curiosity-hunting." He further 
wrote : 

"We must believe in an absolute, immutable principle 
of Goodness, and in a Divine Intelligence from which 
all axiomatic, a priori truth must flow down to finite in- 
telligences, if we would unite religion with morality, for 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 121 

if we are at the mercy of some blind chance, under 
which what is right today may be wrong tomorrow, 
the Cosmos is not likely to be a pleasant abiding-place 
for an eternity to truth-loving, justice-loving souls. An 
enlightened Spiritualism conducts the mind, sooner or 
later, to an enlightened Theism — liberal as the sun and 
all-embracing as the universe. But it is not dogmatic, 
since its inferences are those of the scientific mind 
itself.'* ("Scientific Basis," page 168.) 

"The Supreme Being must be also conscious, since 
there can be no knowledge without a consciousness of 
it, active in some state or other. Using the word person 
in its large and ultra etymological sense, He must be 
also personal, binee consciousness involves personality. 
This does not depend on individualization through 
organism, nor on the relativity of a person, — on the 
distinction of a me from a not me. ' ' An eminent phil- 
osophical physicist Hermann Lotze, remarks: — 

"Personality has its basis in pure selfhood — in self- 
consciousness — without reference to that which is not 
self. The personality of God, therefore, does not 
necessarily involve the distinction of God -by himself 
form what is not himself, and so his limitation of in- 
finiteness; on the contrary, perfect personality is to be 
found only in God, while in all finite spirits there exists 
only not a productive condition of personality, but rather 
a bar to its perfect development. ' ' 

ALFRED R. WALLACE, F. G. S., F. R. S., LL. D., D. C. L., 
author, scientist, and naturalist, who for his great 
scientific achievements the late Queen pensioned, point- 
edly says : * ' My position, therefore, is that the phenomena 



122 What Is Spiritualism? 

of Spiritualism, in their entirety, do not require further 
confirmation. They are proved quite as well as any facts 
are proved in other sciences.' ' 



"Up to the time when I first became acquainted with 
the facts of Spiritualism I was a confirmed, philosophical 
skeptic, rejoicing in the works of Voltaire, Strauss, and 
Carl Vogt, and an ardent admirer— as I am still — of 
Herbert Spencer. I was so thorough and confirmed a 
materialist that I could not at that time find a place in 
my mind for the conception of spiritual existence or for 
any other agencies in the universe than matter and force. 
Facts, however, are stubborn things. . . . The facts 
beat me. They compelled me to accept them as facts 
long before I could accept the spiritual explanation of 
them. . . . Those who believe as I do — that spiritual 
beings can and do (subject to general laws and for 
certain purposes) communicate with us — must see in 
the steady advance of inquiry the assurance that, so far 
as their beliefs are logical deductions from the phenomena 
they have witnessed, those beliefs will at no distant date 
be accepted by all truth-seeking inquirers.' ' 

In speaking of a seance held under strict test con- 
ditions, he says : 

"Upon a bare table, in a small closed room, a quan- 
tity of flowers appeared, consisting of anemones, tulips, 
chrysanthemums, Chinese primroses, and several ferns. 
They were as absolutely fresh as if gathered from a con- 
servatory, and were covered with a fine, cold dew. Not 
a petal was crumpled or broken, not the most delicate 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 123 

point or pinnule of the ferns was out of place." Dr. 
Wallace dried and preserved the whole of them. 

"Similar phenomena have occurred hundreds of 
times," he says; "sometimes the flowers have been in 
vast quantities heaped upon the table. Often flowers and 
fruit asked for are brought. A friend of mine asked for 
a * sunflower •' and one six feet high fell upon the table, 
having a large mass of earth about its roots. Surely 
these are phenomena about which there can be no mis- 
take. What theories have ever been proposed by our 
scientific teachers which even attempt to account for 
them? Delusion it cannot be, for the flowers are real 
and can be preserved, and imposture under the condi- 
tions imposed is even less credible.* ' 

SIR WILLIAM CSOOKES, F. E. S., editor of the London 
Quarterly Journal of Science, Fellow of the Royal 
Society, Discoverer of the Sodium Amalgam Process, In- 
ventor of the Radiometer, Otheoscope, Past President 
British Chemical Society, Gold Medalist French 
Academy of Sciences, says: "That certain physical 
phenomena, such as the movement of material substances, 
and the production of sounds resembling electric dis- 
charges, occur under circumstances in which they can- 
not be explained by any physical law at present known, 
is a fact of which I am as certain as I am of the most 
elementary facts in chemistry. ' ' 

In his book, "Researches in the Phenomena of 
Spiritualism," he states his conviction of the fact of an 
intercommunion between the dwellers of the visible and 
the invisible worlds. 

"If it had not been for Prof. William Crookes, the 



124 What Is Spiritualism? 

discoveries of Professor Roentgen would not have been 
made. This man, who paved the way for the recent de- 
velopments in photographic science, has been widely- 
known for years, and there are few men who have 
achieved more brilliant results in the laboratory than 
the discoverer of the 'tube' which is just now figuring 
so prominently in all the experimental work with the 
new light which makes the photography of concealed 
things possible/ ' 

Professor Crookes was born in London, and in his 
boyhood became interested in photography. He took a 
course in the Eoyal College of Chemistry under Dr. 
Hoffman, and soon became assistant to the tutor. At 
twenty-two he was appointed superintendent of the Rad- 
cliff e Observatory at Oxford. In 1859 he founded the 
Chemical News, and in 1864 became the editor of the 
Quarterly Journal of Science, and contributed many val- 
uable papers to the publication. 

Professor Crookes was indefatigable in original re- 
search. He discovered the force and invented the radio- 
meter. In recognition of his discovery of the new metal, 
thallium, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
In 1877 he invented the otheoscope, and in the same year, 
in a paper read before the Royal Society, he said that 
he had succeeded in obtaining a vacuum so nearly per- 
fect that the pressure in it was only .0000004 of an at- 
mosphere. It was this discovery that made possible the 
incandescent electric light. He has written many scien- 
tific books, each one of which is considered of great 
value. His name was brought before the public generally 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 125 

in 1870, when lie undertook an investigation of the 
physical phenomena of Spiritualism. 

In his researches, covering many years of thought- 
ful investigation, with the young medium Florence Cook, 
the spirit of "Katie King" visited him almost daily for 
a period of three years. 

"On one occasion," says Sir William, "for nearly 
two hours Katie walked about the room, conversing 
familiarly with those present. Several times she took 
my arm when walking, and the impression was conveyed 
to my mind that it was a living woman by my side, 
instead of a visitor from the other world." He then 
describes how he clasped her in his arms and found her 
as material a being as the medium herself. He also 
tells us that he toook several flashlight photographs of 
his mysterious friend, and that on one of these occasions 
"Katie muffled her medium's head up in a shawl to 
prevent the light falling upon her face." 

"It was a common thing," he adds, "for seven or 
eight of us in the laboratory to see the medium and 
Katie at the same time under the full blaze of the elec- 
tric light." 

"A phantom form came from the corner of the room t 
took an accordion in its hand and then glided about the 
room playing the instrument. The form was visible to 
all present for many minutes, the medium also being 
seen at the same time. Coming rather close to a lady 
who was sitting apart from the rest of the company, she 
gave a slight cry, upon which it vanished." 

Describing his experiences with direct writing, Sir 
William says: "A luminous hand came down from the 



126 What Is Spiritualism? 

upper part of the room, and after hovering near me 
for a few seconds, took the pencil from my hands, rapidly 
wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, and 
then rose np over our heads, gradually fading into 
darkness. ' ' 

"I would again remind my readers," he adds, "that 
what I relate has not been accomplished at the house 
of a medium, but in my own house, where preparations 
have been quite impossible." 

"A medium walking into my dining room cannot, 
while seated in one part of the room with a number of 
persons keenly watching him, by trickery, make an ac- 
cordion play in my oivn hand when I hold it, keys down- 
ward, or cause the same accordion to float about the 
room playing all the time; he cannot introduce machinery 
which will wave window curtains or pull up Venetian 
blinds eight feet off; tie a knot in a handkerchief and 
place it in a far corner of the room; sound notes on a 
distant piano ; cause a card plate to float, about the room ; 
raise a water bottle and tumbler from the table; make 
a coral necklace rise on end, cause a fan to move about 
and fan the company; or set in motion a pendulum when 
enclosed in a glass case firmly cemented to the wall." 

His books on the results of those experiments was 
widely read at the time of its publication, but while the 
scientific world placed the highest value on his experi- 
ments in other lines, it paid no attention to his investiga- 
tions on the occult side of nature. They were too bigoted. 
"Too many of these professed scientists do little besides 
strut around with cigar stubs in their mouths, beer in 
their stomachs, and old, warty barnacles upon their 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 127 

backs/ ' Professor Crookes is certainly the most patient 
experimenter of modern times, and his name can never 
be dis-associated with Spiritualism and the Eoentgen 
ray because his discovery was its basis. 

C. F. VARLEY, the distinguished English electrician, 
chief engineer to the Electric and International Tele- 
graph Company, assistant in the construction of the 
Atlantic telegraphy, in connection with Sir Michael 
Faraday and Sir William Thompson, the first to demon- 
strate the principles governing the transmission of 
electricity through long deep-sea cables. Writing in 
1880, he said in The London Spiritualist: — 

"Twenty-five years ago I was a hard-headed unbe- 
liever. . . .Spirit phenomena, however, suddenly and 
quite unexpectedly, were soon after developed in my 
own family. . . . This led me to inquire, and to try 
numerous experiments in such a way as to preclude, as 
much as circumstances would permit, the possibility of 
trickery and self-deception. 

"That the phenomena occur there is overwhelming 
evidence, and it is too late now to deny their existence. 
Having experimented with and compared the forces with 
electricity and magnetism and after having applied 
mechanical and metal tests, I entertain no doubt what- 
ever that the manifestations which I have myself ex- 
amined were not due to the operation of any of the 
recognized physical laws of nature, and that there has 
been present on the occasions above mentioned, some 
intelligence other than that of the medium and 
observers. ,, 

M. LEON FAVRE, Consul-General of France, and 



128 What Is Spiritualism? 

brother of Jules Favre, the eminent French senator, 
says : — 

"I have long, carefully, and conscientiously studied 
Spiritual phenomena. Not only am I convinced of their 
irrefutable reality, but I have also a profound assurance 
that they are produced by the spirits of those who have 
left the earth ; and, further, that they only could produce 
them. I believe in the existence of an invisible world 
corresponding to the world around us. I believe that 
the denizens of that world were formerly . resident on 
this earth, and I believe in the possibility of inter-com- 
munion between the two worlds." 

On my way to Constantinople, a number of years since, 
to fill a consular position under General Grant, I was 
his guest for a week in Paris, witnessing the manifesta- 
tions in his own parlors. I shall never forget 'the kind- 
ness of the Consul 's son, who accompanied me as a guide 
to Versailles and other cities in France, sight-seeing. 

J. HERMAN FICHTE, the distinguished philosopher and 
metaphysician, writing of Baron Guldenstubbe, of 
Stuttgart, said: "As to my present position in regard 
to Spiritualism, I have to say that I have come to the 
conclusion that it is absolutely impossible to account for 
these phenomena, save by assuming the action of super- 
human influences, or unseen spirit intelligences. ' ' 

PROFESSOR BE MORGAN, at one time London's great 
est mathematician, says: "I have both seen and heard, 
in a manner which would make unbelief impossible, 
things called spiritual which cannot be taken by a rational 
being to be capable of explanation by imposture, coin- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 129 

cidence, or mistake. The physical explanations which I 
have seen are miserably insufficient." 

PROFESSOR CHALLIS, F. R. S., the late Plumerian Pro- 
fessor of Astronomy at Cambridge, stated his opinion 
in a letter to the Clerical Journal, of June, 1862, as 
follows — 

"I have been unable to resist the large amount of 
testimony to such facts, which has come from many in- 
dependent sources, and from a vast number of witnesses. 
... In short, the testimony has been so abundant and 
consentaneous that either the facts must be admitted to 
be such as are reported, or the possibility of certifying 
facts by human testimony must be given up." 

M. THIERS, ex-President of the French Kepublic, ex- 
claimed: "I am a Spiritualist, and an impassioned one, 
and I am anxious to confound Materialism in the name 
of science and good sense." 

CAMILLE FLAMMARIOM, well known in scientific circles 
as an astronomer and member of the Academic Francaise, 
thus testifies to the truth of Spiritualism: — 

"I do not hesitate to affirm my conviction, based on 
personal examination of the subject, that any scientific 
man who declares the phenomena denominated ' mag- 
netic,' 'somnambulic,' 'mediumic,' and others not yet ex- 
plained by science, to be 'impossible,' is one who speaks 
without knowing what he is talking about; and also any 
man accustomed, by his professional avocations, to 
scientific observation — provided that his mind be not 
biased by pre-conceived opinions — may acquire a radical 
and absolute certainty of the reality of the facts alluded 
to." He further remarks: "Although Spiritualism is 



130 What Is Spiritualism^ 

not a religion, but a science, yet the day may come when 
religion and science will be reunited in one single 
synthesis. ' [ 

PROFESSOR FL0URN0Y, of the University of Geneva, 
writes : * * The question of immortality, and the interven- 
tion of spirits, maintains its scientific importance, and 
deserves to be discussed with the calm serenity, with the 
independence and with the analytical rigor which are 
proper to the experimental method." 

DR. LOCKHART ROBERTSON, long one of the editors of 
the Journal of Mental Science, a physician who, having 
made mental disease his special study, would not easily 
be taken in by any psychological delusions. His testi- 
mony to the reality of the spiritual phenomena is most 
distinct and positive. 

SERGEANT COX, an Assistant Judge of the Middlesex 
Sessions, London, President of the Psychological So- 
ciety of Great Britain, getting satisfactory proofs of 
independent writing through a distinguished medium, 
wrote of it thus, Aug. 8, 1876:— 

"I can only say that I was in the full possession of 
my senses ; that I was wide awake ; that I was in broad 
daylight; that the medium was under my observation 
the whole time, and could not have moved hand or foot 
without being detected by me. . . . That these spiritual 
phenomena occur, it is vain to dispute.' ' 

THE REV. DR. H. W. THOMAS, probably the ablest 
preacher in Chicago, recently said in a sermon: "The 
perfect vision should see in Spiritualism the essential 
truth of the continuity of life and the possibility of com- 
munion between the two worlds. The phenomenal man- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 131 

ifestations or forms of slate writing, seances, and mate- 
rializations are but incidents — but the accidents attend- 
ing any form of faith should not be permitted to close the 
vision to the underlying realities. The fact of a con- 
scious intercommunion between the two worlds has be- 
come an established truth." 

VICTOR HUGO, that eminent literary celebrity, with in- 
tellect so clear and radiant and moral nature so highly 
developed, could not well avoid being a Spiritualist. 
Upon my second voyage around the world I met him in 
Paris in a seance of the literati, Mrs. Hollis-Billings 
being the medium. Hugo wept in gratitude when his 
risen son gave him a most satisfactory communication in 
written French, when she, an American, could neither 
speak nor write a line of French. 

In his work on Shakespeare, Hugo said: " Table 
turning or speaking has been greatly ridiculed; the ridi- 
cule is groundless. To substitute jeering for examina- 
tion is convenient, but it is not very philosophical. As 
for me, I regard it as the duty of science to fathom all 
phenomena; science is often ignorant and has not the 
right to laugh. That which is unexpected ought always 
to be expected by science. It is its function to arrest it 
in its passage and to examine it, rejecting the chimerical 
and establishing the real. Science has no other concern 
with established facts than to endorse them ; it is for her 
to verify and distinguish. All human knowledge is that 
of analysis; that the false complicated itself with the 
true is no reason for rejecting the mass. Since when 
has chaff been a pretext for refusing the wheat? Boot 
out the worthless weeds of error, but harvest the facts 



132 What Is Spiritualism? 

and leave them for others. Science is the sheaf of facts. 

"The mission of science is to study and probe every- 
thing. To elude a phenomena, to refuse to pay it the 
attention due to it; to bow it out; to close the door on 
it; to turn our backs on it, laughing, is to make bank- 
ruptcy of the truth; it is to omit to put to it the signa- 
ture of science. ... To abandon these phenomena to 
credulity is to commit treason against human reason.' ' 

In his ' i Toilers of the Sea, ' ' he writes : ' ' There are 
times when the unknown reveals itself to the spirit of 
man in visions. Such visions have occasionally the power 
to effect a transfiguration, converting a poor camel-driver 
into Mahomet; a peasant girl tending her goats into a 
Joan of Arc. . . . Those that depart still remain near us 
— they are in a world of light, but they as tender wit- 
nesses hover about our world of darkness. Though in- 
visible to some, they are not absent. Sweet is their pres- 
ence ; holy is their converse with us. . . . ' ' 

"Man is an infinitely small copy of God. That is 
glory enough for me. I am a man, an invisible atom, 
a drop in the ocean, a grain of sand on the shore. But, 
little as I am, I feel that God is in me, because I can 
bring forth out of my chaos. I make books, which are 
creations. I feel in myself the future life. I am like 
a forest which has been more than once cut down; the 
new shoots are stronger than ever. I know I am rising 
toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. The earth 
gives me its generous sap, but Heaven lights me with the 
reflection of unknown worlds. You say the soul is only 
the result of your bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul 
more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 133 

Winter is -on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. 
There I breathe at this moment the fragrance of the 
lilacs, the violets and the roses, as twenty years ago. The 
nearer I approach the end, the more plainly I hear the 
immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. 

"It is marvelous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and 
yet is it historic. For half a century I have been writing 
my thoughts in prose and verse, history, philosophy, 
drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song. I have 
tried all, but I feel that I have not said a thousandth part 
of what is in me. When I go down to the grave I can 
say^ like many others, I have finished my day's work; 
but I cannot say I have finished my life. My day will be- 
gin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind 
alley: it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight to 
open on the dawn. ' ' 

EEV. J. CAMPBELL, M. A., St, Paul's Vicarage, Christ 
Church, N. Z., on Ascension Day, April 13, 1902, preached 
the philosophy of Spiritualism in these words : — 

"The spiritual world is co-extensive with matter, ex- 
tending right through the solar system ; and we know the 
spirit can pass through solid substances just as easily 
as through the air. A man who is a thousand feet below 
the surface of the earth in a mine, and is suddenly crushed 
by a fall of earth — his spirit is not held there ; it passe 3 
into the spirit world, and is not hindered in the least de- 
gree by the tons weight which may be upon the body. 
It makes no difference, — just as ether passes through the 
earth, so spirit passes through the earth. The spirit 
world interpenetrates the natural world. You and I are 
in the spirit world at the present moment. We are in 



134 What Is Spiritualism f 

the lowest stage, and shall remain there as long as we 
are anchored down by the body. After that we pass to 
another sphere, just that one we are fitted for by our 
sojonrn here. We used to be taught (at least, I was) that 
there were only two places where the departed went — 
heaven and hell. Nothing was said about an intermedi- 
ate state, and yet the Bible is full of such teaching. . . . 
"It is about those who are dead (as we say) that I 
wish to speak. I said just now that they are not dead, 
—we must not regard them as dead. * God is not the God 
of the dead, but of the living.' There they are, tin the 
spirit world; some in * sunny Paradise,' yet not so very 
far away from us. To some it is even permitted to visit 
this earth again. They have under certain circum- 
stances appeared to those upon earth in physical form. 
It was so in the days of the prophets, it was so in the 
days of Christ, and it is so now. You remember the 
case of the prophet Samuel (recorded in the first book, 
the 28th chapter, 14th verse), when he appeared to King 
Saul, and to the woman of Endor. And so, also, after 
the crucifixion, we are told that 'the bodies of many saints 
rose and appeared unto many.' (M'att. 27:52, 53.) 
Very well, then, the first statement I wish to make is 
this: That the spiritual bodies of the departed are in 
the spirit world in different communities. . . . There 
have been cases of the spirit going for a time to a higher 
sphere of the spiritual world — to Paradise, without the 
body dying. For example, St. Paul says he was caught 
up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4) and he describes 
himself as a man in Christ. There are babes in Christ 
as well as men in Christ, and the babes are not in the 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 135 

m 

same sphere as the men. They are not fitted for it any 
more than a child taken from an elementary school would 
be fit to associate with a university graduate. The spirit- 
ual powers require developing just as the mental powers 
do. I should have no heart to go on if I did not believe 
that every fresh impulse that people receive here, men- 
tally and spiritually, will be carried into Eternity, and 
place them in a higher sphere in the spirit world. . . . 
"At death each one passes into the spirit world, into 
that sphere for which he is fitted. It may be a very low 
one, but there he is, sorrowing for the carelessness he 
has exhibited during his lifetime; for there is no get- 
ting away from that; there will be sorrowing until they 
receive the truth, but they go on rising higher and higher 
until they come in contact with the ' spirits of the just 
made perfect. ' There they are, then, in the spirit world 
— some, perhaps, very near to us, some higher, but each 
in that sphere that their life on earth prepared them for. 
But they won't stay there; they will rise higher and 
higher, as I said just now. We say we believe in the com- 
munion of saints; we have said it today in the Creed. 
Very well, then, we believe that the spirits in the spiritual 
world have communion with ours. If we don't believe 
that we have no right to say we believe in the communion 
of saints. We know those in the spirit world are praying 
for us (Rev. 6:10), and we know that we on earth may 
pray for them. Now don't, because there are no dead to 
pray for! But I do believe in praying for departed 
spirits. . . . And as for those we look upon as lost — Oh ! 
that we had more charity ! What terrible doctrines used 
to be taught! That the poor heathen blacks who had 



136 What Is Spiritualism? 

never heard the Gospels are down to damnation! How 
many are there who would teach that today! No; they 
pass away to the spirit world, and there they are taught, 
because the Gospel is preached in the spirit world jus! 
as it is here. This truth is brought before us by St. Peter? 
who says that Christ went and preached to the spirits 
in prison — literally, in keeping (1 Peter 3:19) — those 
in a low sphere, certainly, but capable of rising to a 
higher state. And St. Peter goes on to say, 'For this 
cause the Gospel was preached to those that are dead/ — 
that is, 'those departed this life.' (1 Peter 4:6.) The 
Gospel was preached by Christ, and I believe that the 
Gospel is preached to the spirit world by the great 
preachers who have departed thither, and by all great 
and good reformers who lived the Christ-like life. ' ? 

BISHOP JOHN P. NEWMAN, General Grant's pastor in 
Washington, D. C, is a Spiritualist. He attended 
seances which other distinguished persons in the palatial 
residence of Senator Stanford, San Francisco. From 
a printed sermon of his delivered at the funeral of an 
aged lady at No. 561 Madison Ave., New York, I make 
the following extracts: — 

"This venerable woman has gone, not to sing songs, 
nor to be idle, nor indifferent as to the scenes of earth 
and time. These sons and grandchildren over whom she 
watched with tenderest love here, she will continue to 
love and guide hereafter. The belief is all but. universal 
that the spirits of the departed have returned to earth. 
The best of the Greeks and Romans were strong in this 
opinion, and those eminent in the church for learning 
and piety have cherished this common faith. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 137 

"Two worlds met in Bible times. The communica- 
tions were as real then between earth and heaven as be- 
tween New York and London today. From Adam till 
John of Patmos there was frequent intercourse between 
those who had gone and those who were left behind. 

"Angels dined with Abraham, were companions of 
Daniel in the lions' den; they conversed with Mary; they 
delivered Peter from prison; they visited Cornelius, the 
Roman Centurion. Celestial visions were given to Isaiah 
and the prophets, to Paul and the apostles, to Stephen 
and the martyrs, while Samuel and Moses and Elias were 
returned to earth. And why should we suppose that 
there is less interest in heaven for earth now than in 
the glorious past? We have the inspired record of the 
return of five persons to our earth, three of whom en- 
tered the spirit world through the portals of the 
grave. ' ' 

"And there was another who was born here and went 
to that spirit land and returned to us and remained with 
us from June 44 A. D. till June 64 A. D., a period of 
twenty years; and six years after he made this declara- 
tion public. He said: 'I was caught up to the third 
heaven.' This is levitation as taught in I Kings xviii: 
12; Ezekiel 3:14; in Acts 8:39, 40. He went not 
only to the place of departed spirits, but to heaven, 
where he heard unspeakable words. . . . Do not say, If 
only one of our race and time would go and return and 
witness to us, it would be sufficient! Most lawyers are 
satisfied with one good witness. The law is that two 
witnesses are sufficient to confirm a fact: but here are 



138 What Is Spiritualism? 

eight — Samuel, Moses, Elias, Christ and four apostles. 
These eight witnesses are as good as eight hundred. 

"But do the communications between the two worlds 
continue to this day! Let us not be deterred in answer- 
ing this question, because a great Bible fact has been 
perverted for lust and lucre. Let us rise to the sublim- 
ity and purity of the great Bible truth, and on this day 
of sorrow console our hearts therewith. It was the opin- 
ion of Wesley that Swedenborg was visited by the spirits 
of his departed friends. Dr. Adam Clark believed that 
the departed spirits returned to earth. 

DR. PHILIP SCHAIT, the greatest of modern church his- 
torians, wrote ("Church History," Vol. Ill, 465): 
"Clairvoyance, magnetic phenomena, and unusual 
states of the human soul are full of deep mysteries, and 
stand nearer the invisible spirit world than the every- 
day mind of the multitude suspects." 

REV. GEORGE H. HEPWORTH.— It gave me a great 
pleasure while recently in New York to have a most in- 
teresting interview with Mrs. Hepworth, wife of the late 
Mr. George H. Hepworth, writer of those very excellent 
Sunday sermons appearing in the New York Herald. He 
was for seventeen years on the staff of this great New 
York daily, and seven years a member of the Council. 
It was well known in journalistic circles that he was a 
Spiritualist. Mrs. Hepworth assured me during our con- 
versation that he was conscious of the presence of in- 
visible helpers when preparing his Sunday sermons for 
the Herald. It gave him great pleasure to converse with 
the heavenly intelligences that inspired and influenced 
Mrs. Dearborn, of Brooklyn, — a very estimable woman. 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 139 

In a sermon discussing spirit return and the biblical 
references to communicating spirits, he says: "Nobody 
has ever come back? Will the Christian say that? If 
any one peculiarity of the Bible stands conspicuous, it is 
the constant reiteration of the nearness of heaven to 
earth and the repeated assertion that angels have literally 
visited the habitations of men. . . . Those who have gone 
have neither lost their affection for, nor their interest 
in, us. We are indebted to them for constant service, 
and are bound to them by unbroken ties. ' ' 

PRUDHOMME.— In announcing that the Nobel prize of 
£8,000, awarded every fourth year for the best poem, 
has been just gained by M. Sully Prudhomme, Les An- 
nates Poliques et Litter aires, sl weekly journal with a cir- 
culation of 100,500, published in Paris, mentions that this 
celebrated poet is an avowed Spiritualist. His own ad- 
mission of the fact is extremely frank and courageous. 
He says that he was very much perplexed by the facts 
established by such savants as Sir William Crookes in 
England, and M. Charles Bichet, in France; and that 
some friend in whom he had the greatest confidence, re- 
solved upon sending for Eusapia Paladinio, and on in- 
vestigating the phenomena for themselves. They did so 
in the house of one of the party, and under conditions 
so rigorous as to preclude the possibility of fraud or de- 
lusion. He then related the various physical manifes- 
tations which occurred, and after having done so, makes 
the following statement : ' ' My conviction is that I have 
assisted at some phenomena which I cannot connect with 
any ordinary physical law. My impression is that fraud 
in every case is more than improbable, at least, in what- 



140 What Is Spiritualism? 

soever concerns the displacement to a distance of heavy 
articles previously placed by companions and myself. 
This is all that I can say. For my own part, I call every- 
thing natural which is scientifically established; so that 
the word, ' mysterious ' simply signifies that which is 
still surprising for the want of our ability to explain it 
I consider that the scientific spirit consists in the demon- 
stration of facts, and not to deny a priori any fact which 
is contradictory of ascertained laws, and not to accept 
any which has not been determined by verifiable and cer- 
tain conditions. ' ' Why do not the pseudo-scientific ad- 
versaries of Spiritualism imitate the example of M. Sully 
Prudhomme and M. Victorien Sardou and investigate be- 
fore they deny and condemn? 

EON. JOHN P. BROWN, linguist and author, connected 
with the Turkish Legation in Constantinople for twentv 
years, believed firmly in spiritual manifestations. 

WM. BRUNTON, SOLON LAUER, and other prominent Uni- 
tarian preachers are fully convinced of the truths and 
moral grandeur of Spiritualism. Some of them advocate 
it openly. 

Such eminent statesmen and United States senators 
as the late Miller, of Alabama, and Sprague. of Ehode 
Islands, were Spiritualists. 

PROF. A. J. WEAVER, graduate of Tuft's College, Bos- 
ton, for many years a prominent Universalist minister 
and exceedingly able writer upon evolution and is the 
president of the Morris Pratt Institute, Whitewater, Wis. 

COL. JOHN HAY, late Secretary of State, Washington, 
D. C, author and writer of the "Pike County Ballads." 
He says : "I listened on a hot summer Sunday, in Pike 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 141 

County, Mo., to a parson who droned out his sermon, 
substantially the same as 'The Little Breeches,' and 
when I left the church I was full to the lips with the 
inspiration; and on my journey to New York, I con- 
tented myself by writing the ballad. This sort of inspi- 
ration had taken complete possession of me. I was full 
with the spirit. Within a week, ail the Pike County 
ballads were written. And let me tell you, I have never 
been able to feel that they were mine ; that my mind had 
anything to do with their creation, or that they bore 
any trace of kinship to my thought or my intellectual 
impulses. They seem utterly foreign to me— as foreign 
as if I had first encountered them in print, as the work 
of somebody else. It is a strange feeling, this influx of 
intelligence from the invisible source." 

EEV. J. H. HABTEH, my schoolmate in the Oxford 
Academy, a Methodist exhorter, a Universalist preacher, 
and in later years a devoted Spiritualist, was pastor of 
the Church of Divine Fragments. He is the author of 
that popular saying that while clergymen preached to 
keep the people out of hell, he preached to keep hell out 
of the people. When attending a Methodist revival after 
becoming a Spiritualist, the Methodist preachers began 
to pray for him and he knelt right down in the camp and 
prayed vociferously for the conversion of the Methodist 
preachers to a knowledge of Spiritualism. This was pub- 
lished in the daily press as a praying match, the prize 
being tendered to Eev. J. H. Harter. 

WM. BBOTT02T, Boston, Mass., a sweet-spirited soul, 
a poet, a graduate of Harvard University and originally 
a Unitarian preacher, was a firm outspoken Spiritualist. 



142 What Is Spiritualism^ 

Being a man of rigid moral principles, he never shrunk 
from defending Spiritualism either in private or from 
the pulpit when occasion required. 

DUDLEY WRIGHT, London. A cultured and scholarly 
author, once a minister gracing an orthodox pulpit. ijBut 
thinking, reasoning, and reaching out beyond the con- 
fines of any creed, he became convinced that the gates 
immortal were ajar — that the dead lived and that, under 
proper conditions, they could and did hold converse with 
mankind. This truth was to him so grand, so spiritually 
exalting, that he refused to hide it from the world under 
a bushel. And so, well armed, soldier-like, he put on, 
using apostolic words, "the whole armor of God," and 
publicly proclaimed the mighty truth of present-day 
spiritual manifestations. He is a superior writer, author, 
and editor of the ■ " Annals of Psychic Science" in London. 

J. R. FRANCIS, for over fifty years it was my good 
fortune to personally know John R. Francis, the inde- 
pendent thinker, able Spiritualist, journalist, originator, 
and editor of the Progressive Thinker, and distributor of 
premium books for the propagation of Spiritualism. 

J. J. MORSE, from early life a trance medium, 
through whom manifested a high order of intelligence — 
writer, author and editor of the Two Worlds, Manchester, 
England, and other Spiritualistic journals. 

E. W. WALLIS, a semi-trance and inspirational speaker, 
author of several books, an editor of Light, London, and 
formerly editor of Two Worlds. 

E. DAWSON ROGERS, a distinguished journalist and 
originator of Light, London, a high-toned Spiritualist 
weekly, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 143 

MRS. EMMA ROOD TUTTLE, a noted poet, prose and press 
writer and Lyceum worker. 

MRS. ELIZA W. FARNUM, Social reformer, matron of 
Lunatic Asylum, Stockton, Cal., author of " Ideal At- 
tained J ' and other excellent works in the line of Spirit- 
ualism. 

HARRISON D. BARRETT, graduate of Unitarian College, 
editor Banner of Light, fourteen years president of 
N. S. A., author of " Pantheistic Idealism,' ' etc. 

W. EMMETTE COLEMAN, the eminent writer, author and 
scholarly Orientalist of San Francisco, Calif. 

DR. B. 0. FLOWER, of the Arena, essayist and moral 
scientist. 

BARRETT BRENNING, the poet, now of Italy, are Spir- 
itualists. 

PROF. ALEXANDER WILDER, M. D., writer, author, and 
metaphysician, known for his erudition in Europe quite 
as well as in America, is a confirmed believer in pres- 
ent inspirations and spirit ministries. 

Spiritualism converted Professor Hare, Eobert Dale 
Owen, Professor Kiddle, and multitudes of other atheists, 
or rank materialists, to faith in God and immortality. The 
once doubting yet distinguished S. C. Hall, of London, 
rejoicingly used these words, "Spiritualism has made 
me a Christian." 

J. ENMORE JONES, a staunch English Spiritualist, in 
his work entitled, "Orthodox Spiritualism," makes this 
statement: "It may be well, as an historical fact, to state 
that more than one-half of the Spiritualists of England 
are Christians connected with one or another of the 
churches." 



144 What Is Spiritualism? 

SIR. OLIVER J. LODGE, F. R. S., Dr. Sc, LL. B., Professor 
Physics, Birmingham University, author of "Modern 
Views of Electricity, ' ' writes: — 

"I was in a state of skepticism as to the reality of 
Psychical Phenomena produced without apparent con- 
tact, but this skepticism has been overborne by facts. 

i l Consider for a moment the purport and full bearing 
of a judgment which, though in form hypothetical, I hold 
for my own part to be fully justified 1 — intelligent co-op- 
eration between other than embodied human minds and 
our own has become possible.' ■ 

i l The hypothesis of surviving intelligence and person- 
ality — not only surviving, but anxious and able with diffi- 
culty to communicate — is the simplest and most straight- 
forward, and the only one that fits ail the facts." 

PROF. HERBERT MAYO, F. R. S., M. D., Professor of Anat- 
omy and Physiology, King's College, London, said: — 

* ' Twenty-five years ago I was a hard-hearted unbe- 
liever. Spiritual phenomena, however, suddenly and 
quite unexpectedly were soon after developed in my own 
family. This led me to inquire and to try numerous ex- 
periments in such a way as to preclude the possibility of 
trickery and self-deception. That the phenomena occur 
there is overwhelming evidence, and it is too late now to 
deny their existence." 

DR. JOHN ELLIOTSON, F. R. S., M. D., Professor of Medi- 
cine in London University, President of the Eoyal Med- 
ical and Chirurgical Society of London, author of the 
"Lumley Lectures on Diseases of the Heart," editor of 
The Zoist, etc. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 145 

EARL OF CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES, F. R. 8., Past 

President of the Royal Astronomical Society, etc. 

PROFESSOR WILLIAM DENTON, the eminent lecturer 
on Geology, author of "Our Planet, Its Past and Fu- 
ture," "Soul of Things," etc., wrote: — 

"I am a Spiritualist — and Spiritualism is a belief in 
the communication of intelligence from the spirits of the 
departed, commonly obtained through a person of sus- 
ceptibility, called a ' medium. ' " 

PROFESSOR ELLIOT COUES, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., Pro- 
fessor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, Norwich 
University, etc., Professor of Biology in the Ameri- 
can Agricultural College, Member of the National Acad- 
emy of Science, author of "Field Ornithology," "Air 
Fauna Columbiana," etc., says: — 

"Will you have the opinion of such a person as I 
have described, who for about ten years has studied, 
watched, and followed the phenomena of so-called Spirit- 
ualism, and who speaks from personal experiences with 
almost every one of them? Then let me tell you that 
I know that the alleged phenomena of Spiritualism are 
true, substantially, as alleged." 

PROFESSOR BOTAZZI, Director of the Physiological 
Institute University, Naples, in his investigations says : — 

i i M. Scarpa three times felt his hair seized and pulled 
so violently that he cried out with pain; he declared that 
quite a quantity of hair had been pulled out. On an- 
other occasion, a vase of flowers appeared on the me- 
dium's head when a mysterious hand seized the bunch 
and threw it against the extended face of Dr. Poso, as 
if in scorn, and carried the glass of water, which held the 



146 What Is Spiritualism? 

flowers away, whilst another hand distributed roses 
one at a time and / put mine in my button hole/' 

He concludes by declaring the phenomena to be abso- 
lutely genuine and adds — "From henceforward skeptics 
can only deny the facts by accusing us of fraud and char- 
latanism. I should be very much surprised if anyone 
was bold enough to bring this accusation against us, but 
it would not disturb our minds in the least.' ' 

PROFESSOR ALEXANDER, Eio de Janeiro. 

PROFESSOR EBLAND, Sweden. 

PROFESSOR TAMASCO ERMACIO, Wurtzburg. 

PROFESSOR PERTY, Berne. 

PROFESSOR ARMAND SABBATIER, Dean of the Faculty 
of Sciences, France. 

PROFESSOR M. SELING, Polytechnic, Helsingfors. 

PROFESSOR TORNEBOM, Sweden. 

PROFESSOR BROFERIO, Milan. 

1 1 Only those deny the phenomena of Spiritualism who 
have never examined them, but profound study alone can 
explain them." 

PROFESSOR MORSELLI, the distinguished Italian psy- 
chologist, though not fully convinced, is decidedly opti- 
mistic and recently wrote: — 

"Spiritualism, bound up, as it is, with the beliefs of 
the ancients, and associated with all the great religions 
and philosophies of the world, deserves to engage the 
attention and respect of the most liberal, as well as of 
the most prejudiced, man of science. It can no longer 
be passed over with derision and almost indifference, 
because it is an hypothesis which commands the assent 
of intellects of the highest order/' 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 147 

MRS. KATHERINE CROWE, author of "Night Side of 
Nature.'' 

MBS. BE MORGAN, author "From Matter to Spirit," 
London. 

L. CAHAGNET, author of "The Celestial Telegraph," 
New York. 

PROFESSOR MAPES, U. S. A. 

PROFESSOR FALCOMER, Alexandria. 

DR. RICHARD HODGSON, M. A., LL. D., a prominent 
Member of the British Society for Psychical Research 
and Secretary of the American one. 

"I believe I am in possession of incontrovertible facts 
which demonstrate immortality. I have witnessed some 
genuine supernormal phenomena, not explainable by 
either fraud, illusion, or suggestion, and whose signifi- 
cance will have to be reckoned with by all men of science. ' ' 

DR. ASHBURNER, (one of the Queen's physicians), 
author of "Animal Magnetism and Spiritualism." 

" I have myself so often witnessed spiritual manifes- 
tations that I could not, if I were inclined, put aside 
the evidences that have come before me." 

DR. GARTH WILKINSON, M. B., M. R. C. S. E., 
F. R. G. S., author of "Human Science," "The Greater 
Origins and Issues of Life and Death," "Life of Swe- 
denborg," etc. 

DR. PAUL GIBIER, Director of the Pasteur Institute, 
New York, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, author 
"Spiritualism or Fakirism," "Psychism, Analysis of 
Things Existing," etc. 

"Dr Paul Gribier, whose recent loss to science and 
Spiritualism is deeply to be regretted, contends, in his 



148 What Is Spiritualism? 

interesting l Analysis of Things,' which has for its sub- 
title, 'An Essay upon the Science of the Future,' that 
the proof of man's possessing a consciousness which 
survives the change called death, has been already estab- 
lished by the phenomena of Spiritualism." 

DR. E. D. BABBITT, M. D., IL. D., author "Prin- 
ciples of Light and Color," " Human Culture and Cure," 
"Religion, as Eevealed by the Material and Spiritual Uni- 
verse," etc., Dean of the Eclectic College of Fine Forces, 
California. 

DR. GEORGE SEXTON, M. A., LL. D., D. D., E. A. S., 
author of "Scientific Spiritualism," etc. 

DR. J. M. GULLY, M. D., Royal College of Surgeons, 
London, and Royal Psychical Society, Edinburgh, 
author of "Neuropathy and Nervousness." 

"After two years' investigation of the fact and num- 
erous seances, I have not the smallest doubt and have 
the strongest conviction that such materialization takes 
place, and not the slightest attempt at trick or decep- 
tion is fairly attributable to any one who assisted at Miss 
Cook's seances." 

DR. WILLIAM HITCHMAN, M. D., LL. D., M. R. C. S. E., 
E. L. S., E. R. S., Edinburgh, Consulting Surgeon Cancer 
Hospital Leeds, author of "Lectures on Intellectual 
Philosophy," etc. 

"Phenomena like these present a question not to be 
settled by leading articles, but by positive experimental 
testimony; in this case such testimony has been given 
in abundance." 

DR. JAMES ESDALE, M. D,, Medical Officer of the 
Hon. East India Co., Superintendent of the Hoogly Hos- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 149 

pital, Calcutta, author of " Letters from the Red Sea," 
"Mesmerism in India," etc. 

DR. JUSTINIUS KEENER, author, poet, antiquarian, and 
psychologist. 

DR. EUGENE CROWEIL, M. D., author "Identity of 
Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism./ ' 

DR. J. B. MOTHERWELL, M. D., member of Council 
Melbourne, Australia, University. 

DR. GODFREY HOWITT, M. D., brother of William 
Howitt, London. 

DR. CARTER BLAKE, D. Sc, lecturer on "Comparative 
Anatomy, ' ' at Westminister Hospital, London. 

DR. GUILO BELFIORE. 

DR. STANHOPE TEMPLEMAN SPEER. 

DR. G. GEROSA, Professor of Physics. 

DR. CAPUANQ. 

DR. W. LINDSAY RICHARDSON. 

DR. STODART. 

DR. AUGUSTUS MUELLER. 

DR. C. W, ROHNER. 

DRS. BERIGNY AND HICKSON,. Homeopaths. 

DR. F. L. H. WILLIS, Rochester, N. Y., writer, physi- 
cian, author, and lecturer upon Spiritualism. 

JOSEPH JEFFERSON, the famous actor, declared that 
the most noted actors were mediums. 

DR. HALLOCK, M. D., New York. 

"Spiritualism is no new problem that ought to have 
taken the disciples of science by surprise.' ' 

DR. T. L. NICHOLLS, M. D., F. A. S., author of "Esoteric 
Anthropology," etc. 



150 What Is Spiritualism? 

"I have in my possession direct writings and draw- 
ings done under absolute test conditions by departed 
spirits, with whose handwriting I am familiar as with 
my own." 

ALEXANDER AKSAKOF, Privy Councillor to Emperor 
of Russia, editor of ' ' Psychisches. ' ' 

GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE, of Russia. 

"I can as a witness testify that the writing was pro- 
duced upon a slate which the Grand Duke alone held 
under and close to the table, while Slade's hands were 
on the table and did not touch the slate. Slade has since 
had the honor of being invited to two seances by the 
Grand Duke Aksakof. 

LORD BROUGHAM, Statesman. 

"Even in the most cloudless skies of skepticism I see 
a rain-cloud if it be no bigger than a man's hand, it is 
Modern Spiritualism. ' ' 

BARON CARL DU PREL, Munich. 

"One thing is clear: that psychography must be as- 
cribed to a transcendental origin. We shall find: That 
the hypothesis of prepared slates is inadmissible. The 
place on which the writing is found is quite inaccessible 
to the hands of the medium. This intelligence can read, 
write, and understand the language of human beings, 
frequently such as is unknown to the medium. These 
beings are therefore, although invisible, of human nature, 
or species. It is no use whatever to fight against this 
proposition. ' ' 

MAJOR GENERAL DRAYSON, scientist and astronomer, 
etc. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 151 

BARON HELLENBACH, scientist, author of " Birth and 
Death, as a change of form and perception. ' ' . . . 
"The phenomena proves a life beyond." 

BARON GULDENSTUBBE, a Swedish nobleman, com- 
menced to procure direct spirit writing in 1841, and 
between that time and 1857 received about two thousand 
messages in different characters and languages, contain- 
ing many proofs of spirit identity. His method usually 
was very simple, yet equally convincing; he would enter 
some religious edifice when none were present save a 
friend, or perhaps two, who were introduced as wit- 
nesses, place a piece of blank paper on a monument or 
statue of some celebrity, retire a short distance and wait 
in prayerful mood, earnestly desiring a response from 
the spirit represented by the monument. Retiring after 
a while he would frequently find a message on the paper, 
sometimes in languages he was unfamiliar with. The 
testimony to this is of the highest character. 

LAURENCE OLIPKANT, author; Mrs. Oliphant, author 
of " Little Pilgrim in the Unseen," "Old Lady Mary," 
etc. 

HUDSON TUTTLE, author "Arcana of Nature," "Ar- 
cana of Spiritualism," "Eeligion of Man," "Studies in 
Psychic Science," etc. 

"Spiritualism is the knowledge of everything pertain- 
ing to the spiritual nature of man; and, as spirit is the 
moving force of the universe in its widest scope, it grasps 
the domain of Nature. It embraces all that is known. 
It is Cosmopolitan Eclecticism, receiving all that is good, 
and rejecting all that is bad." 



152 What Is Spiritualism? 

HON. RODEN NOEL, author of "A Philosophy of Im- 
mortality. ' ' 

ST. GEORGE W. STOCK, H. A., (Oxon). 

GEORGE WYLD, LL. D., a noted London physician and 
author. 

"With regards to spirit writing there is no order of 
spiritual phenomena which impressed me more power- 
fully. . . . The evidence that the writing was pro- 
duced by a spiritual intelligence without the interven- 
tion of human hands, was overwhelming." 

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, poet, author "The Light of 
Asia." 

"All I can say is this: that I regard many of the 
manifestations as genuine and undeniable, and inexplica- 
ble by any known law, or collusion, arrangement, or 
deception of the senses; and that I conceive it to be 
the duty and interest of men of science and sense to 
examine and prosecute the enquiry as one that has fairly 
passed from the region of ridicule. ,, 

EUGENE NUS. 

"Eugene Nus, poet, philosopher, dramatic author, 
and journalist, declared in his ' Things of the Other 
World,' that he had found Spiritualism everywhere, and 
that it is sowing the seeds of a systematic mortality, 
which is greatly preferable to the dreary negations which 
Materialism offers us." 

EMPEROR NAPOLEON in. 

EMPEROR NICHOLAS I. 

COUNTESS EOLLENHOFF. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 153 

SIR CHARLES ISHAM, Bart, member Spiritualist Alli- 
ance, London. 

LORD BULWER LYTTON, illustrious writer. 

EARL OE RADNOR, member Spiritual Alliance, London. 

LORD LYNDHURST. 

NICHOLAS, Duke of Leuchtenberg. 

SIR W. TREVELYAN. 

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. 

"For theories, we get over no difficulty, it seems to 
me, by escaping from the obvious inference of an ex- 
ternal spiritual agency. When the phenomena are at- 
tributed, for instance, to a second personality projected 
unconsciously and attended, to an unconscious exercise of 
volition and clairvoyance ; I see nothing clearly but a con- 
vulsive struggle on the part of the theorist to get out 
of a position he does not like, at whatever expense of 
kicks against the analogies of God's universe.' ' 

Mrs. E. B. Browning's poetical inspirations are rich 
in the beautiful teachings of Spiritualism. Several 
years ago, when wandering through the walks of the 
Florence cemetery, not far from the flowing Arno, I saw 
a large, beautiful, and yet plain monument with these 
simple letters inscribed thereon, "E. B. B." Anyone 
would know that they were the initials of Elizabeth Bar- 
rett Browning, whose writings reveal her Spiritualism. 
My eye just now rests upon this poem entitled, "A Child 
Asleep": 

As the moths around a candle, 
As the bees around the rose, 
As the gnat around a vapor, 
So the spirits group and close 
Round about a holy childhood, 
As if drinking its repose. 



154 What Is Spiritualism? 

In one of Mr. Home's seances mentioned by Mrs. 
Home in his biography, "the spirits put a wreath upon 
Mrs. Browning's head, and not on Mr. Browning's, which 
seemed," says D. D. Home, "to offend him." In her 
notes on "England and Italy," Mrs. Hawthorne, wife 
of the noted Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote: "Mrs. Brown- 
ing introduced that evening the subject of Spiritualism, 
and there was an animated talk. Mr. Browning cannot 
believe, and Mrs. Browning cannot help believing." 

L. FIGUIER, editor L'Annee Scientifique. 

"Louis Figuier, who has done so much to popularize 
science, and in whose book, entitled, 'The Day After 
Death, ' there is such a fund of spiritual knowledge, wrote 
as follows: 'I hold it for a certainty that there exist 
intermediate beings between God and man. I am abso- 
lutely ignorant as to how they can communicate with 
the earth, but the fact of such communication appears to 
me to be positive." 

OLE BULL, the celebrated Norwegian violinist. 

FRANCES COPPEE, poet, dramatist, and member of the 
French Academy. 

FOGOZZI, poet. 

T. ANTHONY TROLLOPE, traveler and poet. 

B. F. UNDERWOOD, many years editor of Boston Index, 
scholar and author. A convert from the ranks of 
materialism. 

ALEXANDER DUMAS, (pere). 

"Dumas believed in apparitions, spirits, and unseen 
influences. ... He always believed that his father's 
spirit came just after it had quitted the body to say fare- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 155 

well to him. He felt warm breath on his face and heard 
a voice say, ' Alexander, I have come to bid yon adien, 
be a good boy and love yonr mother. 7 " Memoir by Mrs. 
Emily Crawford. 

ROBERT DALE OWEN, American Minister to Italy, 
author of "Footsteps on the Boundary of Another 
World," "Debatable Land," etc. 

FLORENCE MARRYAT, author "The Spirit World," 
"There Is No Death." 

CANON WILBERPORCE, M. A. 

"It is a strengthening, calming consideration that 
we are in the midst of an invisible world of energetic 
and glorious life, a world of spiritual beings than whom 
we have been made for a little while lower. Blessed 
be God for the knowledge of a world like this. It is 
evidently that region or condition or space in which the 
departed find themselves immediately after death; prob- 
ably it is nearer than we imagine, for St. Paul speaks 
of our being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. 
There, it seems to me, they are waiting for us.' 7 

This Canon thus further referred to "well-attested 
manifestations," and to the "materialization of spirits," 
as published in the proceedings of the "Church Con- 
gress," and also described in a pamphlet by Kev. T. 
Colley, late archdeacon of Natal (a talented English 
clergyman, by the way, whom I have met, and known 
to be an avowed Spiritualist). The Canon also refers 
to Professor Barrett, of the Ro'yal College of Science, 
Dublin. The professor wrote thus : — 

"I know and rejoice in the blessing Spiritualism has 



156 What Is Spiritualism? 

been to my own faith, and to that of several dear friends 
of mine. Moreover, I cordially recognize the fact that 
in bereavement and deep distress numbers have been 
cheered and consoled by the hope that 'Spiritualism has 
set before them." Professor Barrett brought the subject 
of Spiritualism before the .British Association for the 
Advancement of Science, and an audience of 1,500 lis- 
tened to him. 

" Those who are following Spiritualism as a means 
and not an end, contend warmly that it does not seek 
to undermine religion or to render obsolete the teach- 
ings of Christ; that, on the other hand, it furnishes 
illustrations and rational proof of them such as can be 
granted from no other source; that its manifestations 
will supply deists and atheists with positive demonstra- 
tion of a life after death, and that they have been in- 
strumental in converting many secularists and material- 
ists from skepticism to Christianity. ' ' 

REV. B. P. AUSTIN, M, A., IX, D., Rochester, N. Y. 

" After some years of investigation, under a great 
variety of circumstances, I dare affirm that the ethical 
system taught in these spirit communications have never 
been surpassed in the lofty character of the duties it pro- 
claims, or the power and variety of the motives it urges 
to secure obedience to law. 

"The spiritual beauty, inherent divinity of many of 
these spirit messages, renders the thought of their dia- 
bolical origin a moral impossibility and the expression 
of that thought a blasphemy." . . . "I have seen again 
and again these phenomena produced, heard these voices 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 157 

from the angel world caught living words of instruction 
and inspiration fresh from angelic lips, seen their forms 
materializing and dematerializing like a cloud vanish- 
ing from sight; held them by the hands, and have felt 
their hand in benediction on my head, and have learned 
to know and trust and love those inhabitants of the 
spirit world, even as I know and trust and love friends 
in the flesh." 

THE VENERABLE ARCHDEACON COLLEY, Rector of 
Stockton, Warwickshire, England, still in the church, 
and an author of " Talks with the Dead," says: — 

"Spiritualism comes as a real God-send to save men 
from that Sadducean Materialism that looks for no here- 
after beyond the grave." 

REV. HEBER . NEWTON, author and rector of All 
Souls Church, New York. 

REV. J. 0, BARRETT, lecturer, author, and government 
employee. 

REV, MINOT J. SAVAGE, D, D., author of "Physics, 
Facts, and Theories," "Life Beyond Death," and pas- 
tor of Unitarian Church, New York, says: — 

"The result of my investigation leads me to believe 
that the spirits of the dead communicate with us. I have 
received communications from people whom I know to 
have lived on earth. If anybody can offer some other 
hypothesis than spiritual communication I shall be glad 
to investigate it ; but I have never heard of one. It is 
a great question to the Christian church today." 

CHARLES FAUVETY, also a distinguished French phi- 
losopher, and author of "The New Revelation," declared 



158 What Is Spiritualism? 

Modern Spiritualism to be the force which will regen- 
erate society. 

REV. W. E, CHANNING, 

"We have good reason to believe that if we obtain 
admission into heaven, we shall still have opportunity 
not only to return to earth, but to view the operation 
of God in distant spheres, and be his ministers in other 
worlds. ' ' 

REV, E. R. SANBORN, 

i i There are sad hearts for whom death has made this 
world a tomb, which have been cheered and lifted into 
light and glory by the scintillations of love from an 
unknown world, which, unseen, lies around us all. The 
gloom has been transferred into shimmering splendor, 
by processes more marvelous than any physicist has 
found. And souls to whom this world has been a hell 
have been suddenly awakened to find it a heaven, sur- 
passing any tale of seer or fairy." 

REV. 0. MAURICE DAVIES, D. D. 

REV. N. F. RAVLIN. 

REV. WM, KERR, M. A., Tipton. 

DEAN PARKYN, of Ballarat, when speaking at the 
graveside at Hamilton, Victoria, said: — 

"My brethren, these things (referring to several 
deaths that had recently taken place) are happening con- 
stantly all around us, and I say that man is foolish beyond 
the power of speech to express who lives only for the seen 
and forgets that which is unseen. I know you cannot see 
the other world, but it is all around us, and I believe at 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 159 

this very moment ive are encircled by a cloud of invisi- 
ble intelligences.' 7 

"IAN MACLAREN." The following extract is repro- 
duced from the "Life of the Rev. John Watson, D. D.," 
("Ian Maclaren"), the celebrated Presbyterian divine 
and author, by Dr. Robertson Nicol, editor of the Brit- 
ish Weekly. Referring to certain mysterious occur- 
rences in "Ian Maclaren 's" experience, Dr. Nicol says: — 

"He believed thoroughly in the supernatural nature 
of these strange occurrences, and had a fervent convic- 
tion of the reality of spiritual communications. He had 
some curious compact with his mother, which was made 
on her death bed, and firmly believed that he was in touch 
with her all his life. He called it his mother's ' tryst' 
and said that this influence had been a great bulwark 
against temptation. The inquiries of his friend, Sir 
Oliver Lodge, and of the Psychical Research Society 
(of which he was a member), moved him to the profound- 
est interest. He considered the veil between the two 
ivorlds to be very thin. Spiritism interested him, I think, 
not so much from a scientific as from a religious stand- 
point.' ' 

CORA I. V. RICHMOND, lecturer and author. 

LAURA FIXEN, writer, author, lecturer. 

T. P. BARKAS, F. R. G. S. 

"I have investigated and experimented under every 

kind of reasonable test my ingenuity could devise. 

. Notwithstanding all tests and all precautions, 

phenomena have taken place that are utterly inexplicable 

by reference to any known physical or psychological law. 



160 What Is Spiritualism f 

All this I have done with the cold eyes and steady pulse 
of a scientist." 

WM. NEWTON, F. R. G. S. 

PHILIP PEARSALL CARPENTER, naturalist. 

"I have left off believing in death ( so-called).' ' . 

ANNA CORA MOWATT, actress and novelist. 

SIR EDWARD LANDSEER. 

DION BOUCICAULT. 

WM. OXLEY, Egyptologist, author of "The Land of 
the Pharaohs." 

MADAM ELSIE VAN CALCAR, editor of Op de Gren- 
zen, van Twee Werelden, author, " Hermione, ' ' "A 
Woman Only," "A Star Among the Clouds," "The Sec- 
ond Pentecost," "Harvest and Seed Time," "The Phi- 
losopher's Stone," "Harmonious Education," etc. 

DR. H. DE GR00D, professor Groningen University. 

DR. VON DER LOEF, author and eminent physician. 

F. W. H. MYERS, president of Society for Physical 
Eesearch, author of "Phantasms of the Living," etc. 

"Not, then, with tears and lamentations should we 
think of the blessed dead. Rather we should rejoice 
with them in their enfranchisement, and know that they 
are still minded to keep us as sharers in their joy. It is 
they, not we, who are working now, they are more ready 
to hear than we to pray ; they guide us as with a cloudy 
pillar, but it is kindling into steadfast fire." 

PROPESSOR RAOTJL (Mathematics), Geneva. 

P. BEVERLEY RANDOLPH, M. D., author of "Preadamite 
Man," etc. 

W. T. STEAD, editor London Review of Reviews, Po- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 161 

litical Savant, confident of Kings and Emperors, eminent 
author, automatic spirit-writer, advocate of the world's 
peace, and the objective originator of Julia's Bureau, 
established for spirit messages. 

H. JUNOR BROWNE, author "Holy Truth," "Comfort 
for the Bereaved," "Higher Branches of Science,' ' "A 
•Rational Faith,' ' etc. 

JABEZ C. WOODMAN, counselor-at-law, Portland, Me., 
U. S, A. 

ALLAN PUTNAM, M. A., author of "Bible Marvel Work- 
ers." 

R. H. WILLIAMS, M, A., author of "Text Book of Mes- 
merism." 

WASHINGTON IRVING said:— 

"What could be more consoling than the idea that 
the souls of those we once loved were permitted to re- 
turn and watch over our welfare." . . . "I see 
nothing in it (Spiritualism) that is incompatible with 
the tender and merciful nature of our religion, or re- 
volting to the wishes and affections of the heart." 

CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 

"Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, 
there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits; 
that world is around us, for it is everywhere; and these 
spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us." 

PROFESSOR E. WHIPPLE, Los Angeles, Cal. Lecturer, 
writer, author and authority upon the Science of the 
Stars. 

RENE CAILLIE, son of the celebrated explorer who dis- 
covered Timbuctoo, published a work entitled "Christian 



162 What Is Spiritualism,?* 

Spiritualism, ' ' has written in eloquent terms of the lofty 
morality which it inculcates, and terms it "the revela- 
tion of revelations. ' ' 

EDOUARD GRIMARD, professor in the University of 
Paris, ex-Director of Normal Schools, a valued contrib- 
utor to the "Bevues des Deux Mondes," and author of 
that excellent work, "La Plante Botanique Simplifiee," 
writes in his beautiful "An Escape into the Infinite,' ' 
that Spiritualism "occupies itself with the most serious 
things of science, philosophy, morality, and religion; in 
a word, with the loftiest preoccupations which can haunt 
the human brain." 

REV. W. STAINTON, MOSES (Oxon)„ M, A., author of 
"Spirit Teachings,' ' "Higher Aspects of Spiritualism, ' ' 
" Psychography, ' ' etc., wrote: — 

"Spiritualism has proceeded by a process of per- 
meation, and has rendered unique service to the cause 
of religion by adding knowledge to faith. There is 
nothing in the broad truths which we are taught that 
is incompatible with which the rightly interpreted church 
requires us to believe. Indeed, there is nothing in what 
I have learned that conflicts with the simple teachings 
of Jesus Christ, so far as they have been preserved 
to us. It is something to know that the whole fabric of 
religion, so far as it affects man, receives its sanction 
and stimulus from the doctrines of the higher Spiritual- 
ism with which so many of us have made acquaintance. 
And in days when it is the fashion to bring up every 
time honored truth for proof anew, when man has largely 
lost his hold on the ancient faith, when religion as a 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 163 

binding power is losing so much of its vitalizing influ- 
ence, it is something to feel that by the mercy of that 
God who never fails to respond to the reasonable pray- 
ers of his creatures, we are being brought face to face 
with the reality of our spiritual existence by experi- 
mental evidence adapted to our understanding. I see 
in Spiritualism no contradiction to that which I know 
of the real teachings of the Christ." 

BISHOP HAIL. 

"So sure as we see men, so sure we are that good 
and holy men have seen angels. . . . We have had 
intuitive intimations of the death of absent friends, which 
no human intelligence had bidden us to suspect ; who but 
our angels have wrought? We have been preserved 
from mortal danger, which we could not tell here by im- 
providence to have evaded; our invisible guardians have 
done it." 

MRS. ANNIE BRIGHT, editor, author and proprietor of 
\the Harbinger of Light, Melbourne, Australia. This 
lady is an accomplished writer and is wielding a wide 
influence in the interests of Spiritualism. 

W. H. TERRY, the father of Spiritualism in Australia, 
physician and distinguished advocate of the Harmonial 
Philosophy, was converted to Spiritualism by reading 
the works of Judge Edmonds. He soon developed a 
superior psychic mediumship, tending to the practice 
of medicine and inspirational writings. He was for 
many years the publisher and successful editor of the 
Harbinger of Light. He founded the first Spiritualist 
Lyceum, aided by Dr. Peebles, in Melbourne in 1872. 



164 What Is Spiritualism? 

He has been a tower of strength in seances, in Lyceum 
work, in reading essays before the V. A. S. and for 
forty years has been an active worker for the dissemina- 
tion of the principles of Spiritualism. 

CHEVALIER JAMES SMITH, the journalist, author, and 
brilliant book reviewer, of Melbourne. A prominent 
Spiritualist. 

MADAME RUFINA NOEGGERATH, authoress of that 
striking work, "The Survival.' ' 

"While declaring the reality of the facts of Spirit- 
ualism reminds us that they have the voice of all an- 
tiquity in their favor, and are attested in our own times 
by men of the highest authority in science, whose good 
faith, integrity, and intelligence are above suspicion." 

REV. T. B. TAYLOR, M. A., M. D., author of "Lectures 
on the Eesurrection of the Dead," "Death on the 
Plains,' ' etc. 

HON. J. BOWIE WILSON, Sydney, N. S. W. 

JUDGE W. WINDEYER, Sydney, N. S. W. 

MRS. CHANDOS LEIGH HUNT WALLACE, editor Herald 
of Health (daughter of Leigh Hunt). 

GENERAL F. J. LIPPITT, Washington, U. S. A. 

PROFESSOR W. JAMES, Professor of Psychology, etc., 
Harvard University. 

Of a course of forty-five lectures given by Professor 
James, fifteen were on Spiritualism, or psychic phenom- 
ena. 

LORD LINDSAY, 

"A friend of mine was very anxious to find the will 
of his grandmother, who had been dead forty years, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 165 

but could not even find the certificate of her death. I 
went with him to the Marshalls, and we had a seance; 
my friend asked his questions mentally. We were told 
that the will had been drawn by a man named Walker, 
who lived in Whitechapel, name of street and number 
was given. We found the man, and through his aid 
obtained a copy of the draft." 

DR, NELLIE BEIGHLE, physician, writer, author, San 
Francisco, Cal. 

EMMA HARDINGE BRITTEN, author "Modern Ameri- 
can Spiritualism," "Nineteenth Century Miracles," etc. 

GEN. W. H. PARSON, attorney, essayist, author, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

COUNTESS OF CAITHNESS, author of "Old Truths in a 
New Light." 

DR. THEODORE HAUSMANN, Washington, D. C. 

DR. GEORGE VON LANDSDORFF, Baden. 

BENJAMIN COLEMAN, journalist, London. 

H. D. JENKEN, barrister, London. 

E. W. COX, sergeant-at-law, London. 

RABBI SAMUEL WEIL, writer and author, New York. 

W. D. C. DENOVAN, author "Evidences of Spiritual- 
ism." 

DR. WM. SHARPE, author and poet. 

PROFESSOR GEORGE BUSH, professor of Hebrew and 
Oriental Literature, New York City University. 

HON. L. V. MOULTON, attorney and author, IT. S. A. 

REV. CHARLES WICKSTEED, B. A., author of "A Vin- 
dication of the Beneficent Influence of Christianity," 
(London, 1887), etc., etc. 

"This universal hope (of the Future Life) has fur- 



166 What Is Spiritualism? 

ther had its confirmation in the positively asserted and 
numerously attested and steadily believed distances of 
signs of the continued existence in a spiritual form of 
persons who had passed the gates of death. Thousands 
and tens of thousands of our fellow creatures have borne 
testimony, and testimony that in any ordinary case 
would have been deemed by every one sufficient, that they 
had seen and had speech of friends who had in the body 
died away from this earth.' ' 

FRANCIS E. WILLARD.— Well do I remember of Col. 
Bundy of Chicago telling me of a conversation he had 
with Miss Willard, admitting the truth of angel minis- 
tries, which she expressed in private only. She now re- 
grets this public concealment, as is shown in this spirit 
message to Lillian Whiting through a most excellent 
medium : — 

"Dear Friend: — Do not be surprised to hear from one 
who so recently joined the vast majority. It is my de- 
light to come now that I have found the way; and I 
would be only too glad could I sound the note of salu- 
tation to the numbers now holding me in their thoughts 
of sadness. I should like to tell them how different is 
all from what I anticipated and how glad I am in my 
new surroundings. Such ecstasy to find my beloved ones ! 
I ought to be happy, but ami! Hardly, because of my 
regret in having ignored while on earth this essential 
truth of spirit return. (Mark this confession; she did 
not deny the truth of spirit intercourse, but she ignored 
it. Thousands have done and are doing the same thing 
today.) Now it looks to me like the foundation of all 
truth, and the stepping stone to higher things than I 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 167 

dreamed of in my philosophy. I must now find my work 
and enter on my new duties as soon as possible. I am 
not ready to be a saint yet, but must take up my new 
work earnestly. Nothing stands in the way of new 
efforts. Nothing shall prevent my reaching our dear 
people in time. For what is the truth to me if I cannot 
sbare it with others who have the same right to it as 
I? We must try and wake up the world to see and to 
accept that of which it is so much in need. It will re- 
quire tremendous effort, but the awakening will come." 

MRS. M. E. CADWALLADER, writer, author and superin- 
tendent of American Spiritualists ' Lyceums. 

REV. R. J. CAMPBELL, City Temple, London, preach- 
ing upon "following Christ" (says Light of London) 
stated that "Jesus is here. He knows what I am say- 
ing in his name and he does not have to wonder what 
I shall say next; it is his appeal, though by an earthly 
tongue and rendered comparatively feeble by passing 
through an earthly medium. There are more in the City 
Temple tonight than you can see" (referring undoubt- 
edly to spirit presences). He continued: — 

"I can imagine how the glorious beings on the other 
side, who once walked this earth as we do now, must 
smile to hear us speak of them as dead. It is we who 
are dead, we whose true life is wrapped up and shut in 
like that of the trees in winter, we whose proportions are 
all wrong. What a tiny speck of life is ours, and how 
little we can imagine of the joy and wonder of a life 
that is no longer conditioned by mortal clay! I say 
you are just beginning to live, if, like these Galileans 
of ages past, you are beginning to lift your eyes to what 



168 What Is Spiritualism? 

is beyond the veil of sense and your thoughts to a good 
which has nothing to do with the ordinary joys of this 
world.' ' 

Great numbers of the more popular and cultured pas- 
tors are now preaching Spiritualism under the attrac- 
tive phrase : c i The ministry of angels. ' ' Some go so far 
as to state right out loud "the present day ministry 
of spirits.' ' These clergymen are on the road to the 
kingdom and we pray them victory. 

W. J. COLVILLE, Spiritualist lecturer, author, and ex- 
tensive traveler, is an able expounder of the historical, 
the ethical and the mystical as related to the reforms of 
the century. 

PROFESSOR EDGAR LUCIEN LARKIN, scientist, astrono- 
mer, director of Mt. Lowe Observatory, Cal., and an ex- 
tensive writer upon spiritual subjects, since his renun- 
ciation of materialism, says:— 

"We are on the eve of starting a colossal movement 
all over Christendom. . . . Then the true teaching of 
Jesus will burn and blaze and glow in all its original 
splendor, with a brilliancy brighter than the sun. And 
its truth will flash like lightning. Many millions will 
then believe that there really exists a world just beyond 
this." 

JAMES ROBERTSON, noted writer, author and early 
pioneer in the interests of Spiritualism in Glasgow, Scot- 
land. 

DR. SAMUEL EADON, M. D., IX. D., author of "The An- 
tiquity of Man," etc. 

REV. THOMAS GREENBURY, of Leeds, Eng. 

REV. VINE WILLIAMS. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 169 

REV. WILLIAM CLEMENT KENDALL. 

REV. C. WARE. 

REV. H. KENDALL. 

REV. PETER DEAN, of Walsall, Eng., author of "What 
Is Christianity, ' ' etc., said: — 

"I hold most firmly that everyone who believes in 
the Bible as the orthodox profess to do, is committed to 
spiritualistic belief and spiritualistic phenomena. All 
through, the Bible has texts and doings adhering to Spirit- 
ualism. It has divinations — some favored and some con- 
demned — the casting of lots, oracles, visions, prophetic 
dreams and the like, in abundance. I think, therefore, 
nothing can be clearer than that, in the New Testament 
days, people were Spiritualists, and were believing in the 
kind of things Spiritualists are believing in now." 

LORD BACON. — "As to the nature of spirits and angels, 
this is neither unsearchable nor forbid; but in a great 
part level to the human mind, on account of their affinity 
. . . the knowledge of their nature, power and presence, 
appears from Scripture, reason and experience, to be no 
small part of spiritual wisdom. ' ' 

SIR THOMAS BROWNE.—" As for spirits, I am so far 
from denying their existence, that I could easily believe 
that not only whole countries, but particular persons, 
have their tutelary and guardian angels . . . this serves 
as a hypothesis to solve many doubts whereof common 
philosophy affordeth no solution." 

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.— " If I have not sat- 
isfactory evidence of the genuineness of these phenomena 
which I have just described, then there is no such thing 



170 What Is Spiritualism? 

as evidence, and all the fabric of natural science may 
be a mass of imposture.' ' 

ROBERT OWEN.— Termed the prophet of New Lanark, 
was, during a long life, a materialist, though a most 
excellent man and a great reformer. He corresponded 
upon political and social matters with members of Par- 
liament and also Dukes and Lords, to Prince Albert and 
her Majesty Queen Victoria. A letter to Lord Brougham 
from Robert Owen ran as follows : — 
"My Dear Lord Brougham: — 

' ' I received the copy of your speech on presenting my 
petition (on March 15th), for which I thank your lord- 
ship. 

' ' Since you left London I have had more than a dozen 
seances at 22, Queen Anne Street, all of which have been 
interesting, and some of them very important, and the 
particulars of which I will communicate to you on your 
return to town. 

4 'Mrs. Hayden (an American Medium) had an invita- 
tion from the Lord Chamberlain, for Friday night last, 
and at whose house there were upwards of thirty of the 
nobility, including the Duke of Argyle; one and all ex- 
pressed their surprise, and most of them their entire 
belief in the truth of the statement that the communica- 
tions were from departed spirits. • . . Hoping your health 
has been better for French air and scenery, I remain, 
etc., etc., 

I Robekt Owen. 

" Jermyn St., Cox's Hotel, 7th April, 1853." 

Mr. Owen received important spirit messages from 
Benjamin Franklin, President Jefferson, Dr. Channing 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 171 

the great Unitarian preacher of Boston, Mass., and many 
satisfactory test communications through Mrs. Hay den, 
from his relatives and friends. . . . At a seance with 
Mrs Hayden, the spirit of the Duke of Kent being present, 
the following among other communications were received : 

Owen: "Are you willing to communicate with me on 
public and private affairs 1 ' ' Duke : ' l Yes. ' 9 

Owen: "Are there distinctions of titles and degrees 
in your sphere % ' ' Duke : * * No. ' ' 

Owen: "Do you recollect the Rational System which 
I explained to you, for the universal improvement of 
the human racer' Duke: "Yes." 

Owen: "Will you advise me to proceed in this busi- 
ness?" Duke: "Yes." 

Owen: "Is Lord Brougham the best person to pre- 
sent my petition to Parliament ? ' ' Duke : ' ' Yes. - ' 

Owen: "Shall I apply to the ambassadors of Russia, 
Austria, France, Prussia, and Turkey, with a view to 
effect a spirit of peace instead of war in these nations, 
and through them, throughout the world f ' ' Duke : ' ' Yes, 
and call upon the American ambassador." The Duke's 
spirit then left, promising to return when I wished again 
to consult him. 

In the last number of this I gave particulars of 
a conference with the spirit purporting to be that of 
Benjamin Franklin. Soon after I had a second seance 
at which the said-to-be same spirit was present, and the 
following questions were asked and answers given:— 

Owen: "What object have the spirits of the departed 
from the earth, at this period in thus manifesting them- 
selves to us?" Franklin: "To reform the world." 



172 What Is Spiritualism f 

Owen: "Can I materially promote this?" Franklin: 
"Yon can assist in promoting it." 

Owens : ' ' Shall I be aided by the spirits ? ' ' Franklin : 
"Yes." 

Owen: "When shall I next hear from my family in 
America ! ' ' Franklin : " In two weeks, ' ' ( this took place. ) 

Calling one morning at Mrs. Hayden's, when I had 
just received a letter from my daughter in America, T 
asked, when raps were made, what spirits were present? 
The reply by the alphabet was, my daughters' — "Anne 
Caroline," and "Mary." I put the letter, unopened in 
its envelope, upon the table and I asked if they knew 
from whom that came? The reply was — "Yes." I re- 
quested they would spell the name of the writer, and im- 
mediately they gave — "Jane Dale Owen" — the writer's 
maiden name— (correct.) 

It is an indisputable fact that Spiritualism has con- 
verted such stubborn materialists as Eobert Owen, Robert 
Dale Owen, Professor Mapes, Professor Hare, Judge 
Edmonds and thousands of others to a knowledge of a 
future progressive life. And yet, the ignorant and the 
morally stupid, ask, ' ' What good has Spiritualism done ? ' ' 

COL. HENBY S. OLCOTT.— It has been my pleasure to 
know the Colonel for thirty years or more. I first knew 
him as a Spiritualist and a healing medium, then as a 
Theosophist and later as a Buddhist. He was an exten- 
sive writer in the interests of Theosophy, editing its 
most prominent journal from Adyar, India. When he 
was dying, the "masters," i, e, the spirits, approached 
and gave directions to Mrs. Besant. 

MADAME BLA7ATSKY.— A cultured, eccentric and able 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 173 

woman and the founder of Modern Theosophy. It was 
my good fortune to meet her in Cairo, Egypt, where she 
had formed a Spiritualist Society. She was a very re- 
markable physical medium. In her books she advocated 
the return of spirits and yet opposed much of Spiritual- 
ism, pronouncing returning spirits, "Astral shells.' ' 

SHISHIR KUMAR GHOSE, writer, author, editor " Hindu 
Spiritual Magazine' ' and biographer of that illustrious 
spiritual mediumistic saint, Lord Guaranga. 

LORD GUARANGA, considered by some Hindus, a Divine 
Being, was born and wrought his wonderful works 1485 
A. D. in Nadia, Bengal. This city was to a large por- 
tion of India 500 years ago, what Jerusalem was to Pales- 
tine, or Eome to Italy- — a city of libraries and of scholas- 
tic culture. 

Because Oj. his wonderful manifestations such as the 
materializations of spirits in his presence when a child, 
remaining in an unconscious state for months at 
a time, he was Considered by many, a god. 
He personated spirits great and small — sometimes his 
body would become rigid and thrice as heavy as usual; 
then so light that he would rise in the air. Sometimes 
his eyes were exceptionally bright and Krishna teach- 
ings of the purest and loftiest character were spoken. 
Naturally tall, when entranced, his body would be elon- 
gated, giving him almost a frightful appearance. Often 
he felt he was with God in spirit — the spirit of an ex- 
alted ecstacy. He spoke of Krishna much as the Naz- 
arene Jesus spoke of his Father God. 

After performing astounding works for many years 



174 What Is Spiritualism? 

he became a Sannyasse, (an Anchorite). Retiring from 
public life he appointed Bashu Ghose his immediate fol- 
lower. Shrines and temples still exist in Nadai erected 
to his honor. 

K. T. RAMASAMI, D. Sc, Ph. D., writer, author and presi- 
dent of the Indian Academy of Science — editor of the 
' i Self Culture, ' ' Kizhanattam, South India. 

BISHOP SAMUEL FALLOWS, of St. Paul's Reformed Epis- 
copal Church, Chicago, publicly pronounced himself a 
firm Spiritualist, preferring to be known as an Immor- 
talist because of the strange atheistic doctrines and nu- 
merous frauds. In a discourse, he said: "The church 
ought boldly and continuously to reaffirm the old Bible 
truths of the influence of the spiritual world upon this 
earth. ' ' 

REV. GEORGE WALTERS, Unitarian clergyman, writer, 
author, professor of elocution, etc., Sydney, Australia. 

A French abbe, who conceals his name, and adopts the 
symbol X. has published a remarkable book under the 
title of "The Religious Renovation, ' ' in which he points 
out that a new religion is in process of formation, and 
that — 

"Christianity is about to be rejuvenated in some ex- 
traordinary manner as it will be by Spiritualism. ' 9 
BELLASHINI, Court Conjurer, remarks : — 

"I have thoroughly examined with the minutest ob- 
servation and investigation of the surroundings, includ- 
ing the table, and have not in the smallest instance found 
anything to be produced by means of prestidigitative man- 
ifestations or by mechanical apparatus." 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 175 

HOUDIN, HAMILTON, JACOBS, RHYS, similar testimony. 

B. L. FARJEON, author and noted linguist. 

M. AUGUSTE VAQUERIE, dramatist, journalist, and man 
of letters. 

u Iam happy to be able to say, as regards the exis- 
tence of what are called spirits, that I have no doubt of 
it. . . . Why should they not communicate to man by 
any means whatsoever; and why should not that means 
be a table V 9 

EUGENE DE BONNEMERE, the well-known French phi- 
losopher, historian, journalist, and dramatist whose "His- 
toire des Paysans" is almost a classic, published an ad- 
mirable work, expository of the antiquity of Spiritualism, 
under the title of "The Soul and Its Manifestations 
Throughout History." 

COLONEL COUNT DE RQCHAS D'AIGLUN, who is at the 
head of the great Polytechnic School in Paris, and author 
of some highly important works on psychic science, ac- 
cepts Spiritualism as a great scientific truth, and the ac- 
tion of invisible beings upon incarnate intelligences as 
a demonstrable fact. 

GENERAL PIX, a French writer, who adopts the nom de 
plume of " Henri Constant." 

In a work on "The Religion of the Future/ ' he ob- 
serves that * * Spiritualism, a doctrine more powerful than 
all the combined forces which live in darkness, has ended 
by triumphing over all its enemies, and today it emerges 
from its protracted lethargy, more vital, more powerful, 
and more robust than ever it was." 

HUGO D'ALESI, a Parisian artist, whose pictures are 
held in great esteem ; Camille Chaigneau, a poet and psy- 



176 What Is Spiritualism? 

chic writer; Drs. Chazarain and Dusart, both of them 
medical practitioners who are much esteemed, and Ed- 
ouard Schure, author of "The Great Initiates," are 
among the many men of intellectual superiority in France 
who have publicly avowed themselves to be firmly con- 
vinced of the splendid and consoling truth that the so- 
called "dead" do, indeed, return to counsel and to com- 
fort us. 

PROFESSOR DENIS METZGER, who has published in a 
collective form, under the title of "An Essay on Scien- 
tific Spiritualism, ' ' the eleven lectures which he delivered 
before the Society for Psychic Studies, in Geneva, de- 
clares that the "survival of the psychic being is now in- 
contestably proved, and the abyss filled up which seemed 
to separate the living from the so-called dead. ' ' 

E. BIONYS, one of the many French men of letters who 
have become firm adherents to Spiritualism, wrote an ex- 
cellent work, entitled, "The Soul, Its Existence and Man- 
ifestations, ' ' in which he succeeded in showing unanswer- 
ably that there is an abundance of scientific proof of its 
existence. 

ARSENE HOUSSAYE, one of the most prominent of 
French litterateurs, as poet, dramatist, novelist, and jour- 
nalist from 1844 downwards, wrote a beautiful work en- 
titled, ' ; The Destinies of the Soul, ' ' in which he declared 
that:— 

"The Science of Spiritualism penetrates the deepest 
and most mysterious secrets of Nature," adding that 
"no thinker of the highest eminence, from Solomon to 
Malebranche, has ever denied the action of invisible 
spirits upon mankind." 



Who Are These Spiritualists ? Ill 

ERNEST BOSC, the learned author of the "Grand Dic- 
tionaire d' Architecture," confidently predicts that the 
day is close at hand when Spiritualism will be recognized 
by official science, which will call it Psychism in order to 
avoid confessing its own perverse stupidity in refusing 
to accept the reality of its phenomena before. 

MICHAEL BONNAMY, examining magistrate, and mem- 
ber of the Scientific Congress of France, is the author 
of a masterly work entitled, "The Reason of Spiritual- 
ism, ' ' which he defines as the revelation of the history of 
man, the justification of the place which he occupies in 
the chain of beings, and as psychology enlightened by 
revelation. 

J. BOUVERY, in his ably written treatise on ' ' Spiritual- 
ism and Anarchy," discerns in the former the complete 
antidote to the latter ; and the one force which can fulfil 
the requirement of Kenan for ' ' the scientific organization 
of humanity. ' ' 

GABRIEL DELAKNE, the gifted editor of the Revue 
Scientifique et Morale due Spiritisme, in his "Experimen- 
tal Demonstration of the Immortality of the Soul," 
claims that it will be by scattering the consolatory truths 
of Spiritualism broadcast that we shall succeed in open- 
ing out the marvelous horizons of the future, and in 
bringing in the august era of the regeneration of human- 
ity by the practice of veritable fraternity." 

ADOLPHE COSTE, in his essay on experimental idealism 
entitled, "God and the Soul," proves the perfect adap- 
tation of Spiritualism to this doctrine and its absolute 
agreement with everything that is highest and best, in 
all the great philosophies and religions of the world. 



178 What Is Spiritualism? 

VICTOR DUCASSE, a French barrister, practicing in the 
island of Mauritius, has splendidly vindicated Spiritual- 
ism from ecclesiastical attacks in a volume entitled, 
' ' Spiritualism and the Church. ' ' 

FRANCOIS VALLES, Inspector General of Eoads and 
Bridges, in France, who is distinguished as a mathema- 
tician, has published several books on Spiritualism, in 
one of which he makes the striking remark that : — 

"In forty years it has permitted us to enter into the 
possession of more secrets than humanity, left to itself 
in the preceding ages, could have achieved in many cen- 
turies. ' ' 

DR. N. SANTANGELO, Italy, author of "Animal Corpo."; 

J. B. A. GODIN, the enlightened and liberal founder of 
the famous Familistere at Guise, an immense establish- 
ment conducted with signal success upon the profit-shar- 
ing principle, was a Spiritualist, as was likewise his 
devoted wife. 

Among men of intellect in France who have embraced 
the truths of Spiritualism must be enumerated: — 

LAURENT DE PAGET, the poet, who edits the Progres 
Spirite. 

LEON DENIS, the popular lecturer, author of "Apres 
la Mori" and " Christianisme et Spiritisme. ' ■ 

P. G. LEWMARIE, editor of the Revue Spirite. 

MONVOISIN, who is likewise a painter of high repute. 

CAPELLARO, the sculptor. 

DOCTORS DURAND DE GROS, BARADUC, BUCHER, GYET, 
FLASCHEON, DUPONY, and CHAUVET DE TOURS, JUDGE DE 
MONTANT, PUVIS, the poet, CROUZET, CORDURIE, and 
LADAME all of them members of the French bar; 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 179 

MME. LUCIE GRANGE, and the numerous ladies and gentle- 
men who constitute the governing body of the Societe 
de Librarie Spirite. 

DR. CHARLES RICHET, the eminent French scientist, 
writes, when speaking of that well-known English work, 
* ' Phantasms of the living ' ' : — 

"It is the first time the future life has been scientific- 
ally studied; and to deny the facts herein related, is to 
condemn science to inertia and to substitute routine for 
progress.' ' 

FATHER LACORDAIRE, the famous preacher, whom all 
Paris flocked to hear when he occupied the pulpit of 
Notre Dame, wrote : — 

"In all times there were methods, more or less rare, 
of communicating with spirits; only formerly a great 
mystery was made of what is today a popular formula. 
It is thus that God proposes that man should not forget 
that there are two worlds, — the one of the body, the other 
of the spirit." 

M. BAISSAC, a distinguished French author, sees in 
Spiritualism the power which will enable the mind, which 
is in man, to triumph over matter, and the foundation 
stone of the great Church of the future which will com- 
prehend the entire human family within its limits. 

FATHER ROCA, a canon of the Roman Catholic Church, 
declares Spiritualism to be the fulfilment of the Scriptural 
prophecies, and more particularly of those which were 
uttered through the lips of Isaiah. 

DR. G. B. ERMACORA (Padua). Physician and author. 

DR. GIUSEPPE MASUCCI (Naples). 

"I feel myself compelled to demolish the entire edifice 



180 What Is Spiritualism? 

of my philosophical convictions, experimentally arrived 
at, to which I have consecrated a good portion of my life. 
In short, I feel it to be my imperative duty to appeal to 
the nobler medical faculty to which I have the honor to 
belong, to lose no time in investigating these phenomena 
and in bringing the causes of them into relation with the 
effects." 

VISCOUNT DE T0RRES-S0LAN0T, formerly editor of 
and still a contributor to the Revista de E studios Psicolo- 
gicos of Barcelona. 

DON MIGUEL GIMENO EITO, editor-in-chief of La Reve- 
lacion, of Alicante, founder of "The Spiritualist Thea- 
ter,' ' and author of "The Dramas of Space." 

DR. GARCIA LOPEZ, author of "Psychic Ladder of 
Life," erudite lecturer on scientific subjects, and the 
writer of "An Exposition and Defense of Spiritualism," 
a "Refutation of Materialism," and "Magic in the 19th 
Century. ' ' 

DON M. G. SORIANO, Marques of Monte, who relin- 
quished his title on account of his democratic ideas, was 
the author of an able work entitled, "Spiritualism is 
Philosophy," and of "Controversies" and "Dialogues" 
on the same subject. 

DON FABIAN PALASI Y. MARTIN, President of the Spirit- 
ualist Society of Saragossa and editor of the Masonic 
Review, La Acacia, is the author of the "Compendium of 
Universal Morality," which is a text-book in all the lay- 
schools in Spain and of a " Compendium of the Rules of 
Urbanity. ' ' 

DON D. CALVET DE BUDALLES, Professor in the School 
of Engineers at Barcelona, was a poet and dramatist of 



Who Are These .Spiritualists? 181 

no ordinary distinction, and as a religious believer, lie 
firmly held that there was no solution of continuity be- 
tween Catholicism and Spiritualism, while his life was 
a beautiful exemplification of his doctrines. 

DON MIGUEL VIVES, President of the Federation of 
Spiritualists, at Tarrasa, sees in the revelation of Spirit- 
ualism the agency which will impel men towards right 
thinking and right living, and will promote the fraternity 
of all souls, both in this life and in that which is to come. 

DR. OTERO ACEVEDO, professor of Nerve Surgery in 
Dr. Rubio's Institution, at Madrid. After experiments 
with mediums he became a convinced Spiritualist; and 
wrote "Los Espiritus," in 1893; "Los Fantasmas," 
"Lombroso and Spiritualism, ' ' and "Fakirism and 
Science." He continues to be an earnest exponent and 
defender of Spiritualism. 

. PADRE SECCHI, an Italian priest of conspicuous ability 
in the Church of Rome, says: — 

"Spiritualism will be the great event of the present 
3entury." 

PROFESSOR VINCENZO T0MM0L0, author of that great 
volume of 700 pages (in Italian) entitled "The Positive 
Basis of Spiritualism" is an eminent scientist, author 
and Spiritualist. Referring to his experiences he says : — 

"The conclusion to which we have come in the pre- 
ceding pages is that there exists in us an "animic" en- 
tity, which acts physiologically by means of the bodily 
Drgans, but which can, under certain conditions, render 
itself independent of them in the exercise of its marvellous 
faculties. This is a Spiritualistic conclusion* wMch 



182 What Is Spiritualism,? 

brings us directly to the admission of the survival of 
spirit intelligences. ' ' 

He further states "That the mediumship of Eandone, 
Politi, Paladino and others, demonstrates beyond denial 
that there is around and above us, a world of spirits; 
and the logical necessity in connection with the phenom- 
ena is that there may be, and really is actual converse 
between incarnate and discarnate spirits ; clearly proving 
the survival after death." 

EMERSON remarked to me very deliberately, while 
visiting him in his magnificent library at Concord, and 
speaking of Swedenborg and hero worship, — "I feel no 
need of personal spirit communications; for, to me, the 
universe is one grand spiritual manifestation." And 
then added: "These modern marvels interest my wife, as 
she accepts the reported fact that Swedenborg, for many 
years, conversed with angels and spirits." 

THE CAREY SISTERS.— Who has not read the beautiful 
poems of these ladies, gifted with such fine intuitive per- 
septions and unusual and highly spiritual natures? 
Phoebe Carey wrote : — 

1 1 1 know that my loved ones come back just as I know 
I think, or see, or know anything else. It is no more won- 
derful to me that I should see and perceive with my soul 
than I am able to discern objects through my eyeballs." 
On one occasion, when Alice was fifty years old, writes 
B. 0. Flower in the February Forum, speaking of her fa- 
vorite little sister, Rhoda, who passed from life when 
she was only fifteen years old, she said: "I have never 
to this day lost consciousness of the presence of that 
child.'* 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 183 

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES' writings, especially his 
poems, are in the line of Spiritualism. Here follows one 
of his paragraphs: — "You don't know what plague has 
fallen on the practitioners of theology, ' ' said Dr. Holmes 
in his "Professor at the Breakfast Table." "Spiritual- 
ism," says the Professor, "is quietly undermining the 
traditional ideas of the future state, which have been and 
still are accepted — not merely in those who believe in it, 
but in the general sentiment of the community — to a 
larger extent than most good people seem to be aware 
of." He asserts that "this Nemesis of the pulpit comes 
in a shape it little thought of," and "ends with such a 
crack of old beliefs that the roar of it is heard in all the 
ministers ' studies in Christendom. You cannot have 
people of cultivation," continues the Professor, "of pure 
character, sensible enough in common things, large- 
hearted women, grave judges, shrewd business men, men 
of science, professing to be in communication with the 
spiritual world, and keeping up constant intercourse with 
it, without its gradually reacting on the whole conception 
of that other life. ' ' 

TENNYSON'S poems abound in the philosophy of Spirit- 
ualism. His interest in it was great. One of the most 
pleasant acts of his later life was to desire and receive 
a visit from W. Stainton Moses, the distinguished London 
author, editor, and spiritual medium, to whom he gave 
his autographically signed portrait. He may not have 
publicly announced himself a Spiritualist. Thousands of 
the most brilliant minds have not so done. Only their 



184 What Is Spiritualism? 

personal friends knew of their firm faith in a knowledge 
of present spirit ministries. 

His poems can be intelligently understood only in the 
light of Spiritualism. Consider the following:— 

. . . . Dare I say- 
No spirit ever brake the band 
That stayed him from the native land, 
Where first he walked when claspt in clay? 

No visual shade of some one lost, 
But he, the spirit himself, may come, 
Where all the nerve of sense is numb, 
Spirit to Spirit, Ghost to Ghost. 
* * * 

Descend, and touch and enter, hear 
The wish too strong for word to name; 
That in this blindness of the frame 
My Ghost may feel that thine is near. 

Tennyson can be read best in the light of his trances, 
He says: — 

And while I walked and talked as heretofore, 
I seemed to move among a world of ghosts, 
And feel myself the shadow of a dream. 

Of the intercommunion of spirits in its higher forms, 
he says: — 

"I do not see why its central truth is untenable. If 
we would think about this truth, it would become very 
natural and reasonable to us. Why should those who 
have gone before not surround and minister to us, as le- 
gions of angels surround and ministered to our Lord?" 

How pure at heart and sound in head, 
With what divine affections bold 
Should be the man whose thoughts would hold 

An hour's communion with the dead. 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 185 

In Blackwood's is this interesting bit of evidence, sup- 
plied by Professor Knight, in a paper, entitled, " A Rem- 
iniscence of Tennyson :" — 

' 'We then went on — I do not remember what the link 
of connection was — to talk of Spiritualism, and the Psy- 
chical Society in which he was much interested, and also 
of the problems of Theism. He spoke of the great Realm 
of the Unknown, which surrounds us, as being also known, 
and having intelligence at the heart of it; and he told 
more stories than one of spirit manifestations as authen- 
tic emanations from the unknown, and as proof that out 
of darkness light could reach us." 

LOWELL, ever brilliant and inspirational, recognized 
the great truth of spirit influx in some of its most prac- 
tical relations to life, as these lines show : — 

"We see but half the causes of our deeds, 
Seeing them wholly in the other life, 
And heedless of the encircling Spirit-world, 
Which, though unseen, is felt and sows in us 
All germs of pure and world-wide purposes." 

KING EDWARD VII.— " Recently His Royal Highness 
(then Prince of Wales) was admitted/' says London 
Light, of Feb. 15, 1902, "to the fellowship of the Royal 
Society, listening to an address by Sir Wm. Crookes on 
' Radial Activity, the Electron Theory, and the Finer 
Forces. ' Near the close of this address, Mr. Crookes said, 
'I think we have almost reached the stage where matter 
and force seem to merge into one another.' Referring to 
some of the statements in this brilliant address of Sir 
Wm. Crookes, His Royal Highness said: — 

" 'I wish to offer my sincere thanks to Sir William 



186 What Is Spiritualism? 

Crookes for his very interesting lecture, which I am sure 
we have all listened to with great pleasure. If I may be 
allowed to do so, I should like to congratulate him on 
his treating such abstruse questions as to make them in- 
telligible and attractive to those, who, like myself, un- 
fortunately cannot lay claim to such scientific knowledge. 
But, while fully realizing how far beyond my reach this 
knowledge is, I can assure you of my hearty sympathy 
with that scientific study and research which now, more 
than ever, has become so important and essential in our 
national life.' " 

Now mark! This eminent scientist, distinguished 
throughout the enlightened world as a Spiritualist as 
well as a scientist, so delighted the Prince of Wales while 
lecturing upon radiant matter, invisible electrons, and 
the finer occult forces, that he heartily thanked him for 
making these questions so intelligible and palatable. It is 
well understood in the higher circles of society, American 
and English, that Queen Victoria not only sympathized 
with, but at heart was, really, a Spiritualist. This fact 
was published in several of the English journals, and, so 
far as I know, was never publicly disputed. 

CHOPIN'S music rendered his name on earth immortal. 
He was a spiritual medium from his earliest childhood, 
as the following proves: "One night, when about five 
years old, the nurse, hearing a noise, rose from her bed 
just in time to see Fritz-Frycek, as this child was called, 
marching downstairs into the drawing-room in his long, 
white night-dress. Following him, she saw him, to her 
amazement, a few minutes later, standing and playing 
upon the piano, playing the very pieces that had been 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 187 

played in the previous portion of the evening. Hastening 
back to the master and mistress of the house, she told 
them that their child was ' either mad or possessed of an 
evil spirit;' for surely no child could play like that. 
Madame Chopin soon appeared, and listening in the door- 
way for a few moments to the marvelous melody that his 
fingers evoked from the piano, was as charmed as sur- 
prised, and with motherly love, she threw her shawl 
around him and taking him back to his room, said : ' Sleep, 
now, my dear child ; and you shall play the piano tomor- 
row all you desire.' The mother of Chopin was a mag- 
nificent pianist, and here was a genius, a sensitive, with 
an inherited tendency to music, and musical spirits from 
the higher spheres, seeing it, influenced him to discourse 
or evoke those sweet and heavenly strains of music. In 
after years he had visions, and entered a mental state gen- 
erally denominated ecstasy. 

PROFESSOR HENRY KIDDLE, writer, author and super- 
intendent of the New York City's 117 schools, and an 
ardent Spiritualist, thus wrote: — 

" Spiritualism not only demonstrates in a most posi- 
tive manner the fact of a future conscious existence, but 
it is an encouraging help to all religious truth. The word 
'religio,' as used by Cicero and other Latin writers, was 
not derived from 'religare,' to bind back, as some, fol- 
lowing Lastantius, have asserted, but from 'religere,' to 
think and ponder deeply, as being that which causes in- 
ward meditation or contemplation, leading to the inner 
life, the life of the soul, with which true religion is es- 
pecially concerned. Religion is essentially an emotion, 
arising from the activity of our spiritual nature and di- 



188 What Is Spiritualism? 

rected to spiritual beings. It is indeed a tie, for it binds 
man to God, and all mankind to each other. . . . 

"The religion of Modern Spiritualism is entirely ra- 
tional and conforms to our best intuitions ; it presents to 
the mind no dogmas for compulsory acceptance and be- 
lief, no insoluble mysteries and theological absurdities 
inconsistent with our intuitive conceptions of a God of 
infinite love, wisdom, and beneficence. It is universal and 
cosmopolitan, containing the good and true of all relig- 
ions. 

' ' I have witnessed marvelous manifestations through 
my son's organization, which I could account for only 
upon the hypothesis that the agencies were spirits." Then 
he added, "Dr. Johnson is reported to have written 'that 
the dead are seen no more.' I will not undertake to main- 
tain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all 
ages and all nations." 

BARON VON HUMBOLDT, the great Shakespeare of 
science, took a deep interest in modern spirit manifesta- 
tions. Accordingly, Lieut enant-General Count Von Lut- 
tichau testifies that at a dinner party in which the subject 
of Spiritualism came up during the conversation, Baron 
von Humboldt said: "The facts are undeniable; it re- 
mains for science to furnish an explanation of them. ' ' 

ARCHBISHOP WHATELEY, churchman and skilled logi- 
cian embraced Spiritualism before his death, as did the 
elder EGBERT OWEN, the great English philanthropist. 
May we not here exclaim, "What an array of talent, 
— what a cloud of witnesses ! ' ' 

DR. CHALMERS said: — "It is a very obvious principle, 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 189 

although often forgotten in the pride of prejudice and con- 
troversy, that what has been seen by one pair of human 
eyes is of force to countervail all that has been reasoned 
or guessed at by a thousand human understandings. I 
have seen tables, pianos, and other furniture raised up 
and moved about without contact of human hands. I 
have seen human bodies, while entranced, levitated, borne 
about the room, and carried up to the ceiling. I have 
seen hands held in a flame of fire for two minutes, yet 
remained unburned. I have seen the sick healed by the 
laying on of hands. I have seen spirit forms materialized, 
walk in our midst, and then vanish from sight. I have 
seen uneducated mediums, while entranced, speak in sev- 
eral different tongues as upon the day of Pentecost. I 
have seen writing without visible hands, thus confirming 
the handwriting upon the wall and the writing of Elijah 
to Jehoram after his entrance into the world of spirits. 
These and other phenomena still more marvelous are 
among the 'signs' — the 'greater works' — that Jesus said 
should follow those who believed on him." 

HIRAM CORSON, A. M., LL. D., Lit. D., Professor Emeritus 
of English Literature, Cornell University. 

"As the spirit gains in freedom, the spirit body, which 
is already in the physical body, being formed in the womb 
(the physical body being a materialization of it), is re- 
fined and spiritualizes the physical body, even contribut- 
ing to its longevity. It is composed, as I have been in- 
formed by my spirit friends, of primordial, ultimately re- 
fined, matter, which is permeated, in earth life, by matter 
of a lower order. This latter is reduced in this world by 
a spiritual life, and will continue to be reduced in the fu- 



190 What Is Spiritualism? 

ture life by the spirit's progress, which progress means 
an increase in its freedom, and only that, due to the in- 
creased refinement of its embodiment. Spirit itself, be- 
ing the ultimate substance (essence), cannot be evolved: — 

So every spirit, as it is most pure, 
And hath in it the more of heavenly light, 
So it the fairer body doth procure 
To habit in. 

"Materialistic psychology (a contradiction in the ad- 
jective) carries materialism to an extreme, by wildly re- 
garding consciousness as due to the mortal physical or- 
ganism and not to the immortal spirit, which has its own 
independent life. This independence has been fully 
proved by Spiritualism. 

* ' The literature of Spiritualism, which is now greater, 
perhaps, than that of any other subject during the last 
sixty years, while it substantiates spirit visitation, and 
the influence of the spirit world upon this, is an exponent 
of the most advanced religious thought of the present 
time, and is destined to transform, if not, perhaps, in 
time, do away with, theology, which has been maintained 
by a hierarchy, and to make the life of the spirit the all 
in all in religion, as it was the all in all with the founder 
of Christianity. The salvation which Jesus taught comes 
from within, not from without. There could be no such 
thing, in the nature of things, as a vicarious atonement 
for the sins of the world. Men can be at one with 
the Universal Spirit only through his own spiritual vital- 
ity. That alone is salvation. As says the German mys- 
tic, Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius) : — 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 191 

Tho' Christ a thousand times at Bethlehem were born, 
And not within thyself, thy soul would be forlorn. 
The cross at Golgotha thou lookest to in vain, 
Unless within thyself it be set up again. 

REV. MYRON W. REED, Denver, Colo., the great human- 
itarian preacher, in a sermon Sunday, 6th February, 
1898, said: — "I believe in the continuity of life. I do not 
believe that life ends in any hole in a graveyard. Life 
is a prairie road. The longer you travel it the more it 
branches off; there is no end to it, but the ocean, and 
there are the stately ships. Of course you come round 
again to the point of departure, but still alive and you 
know more. And again the prairie and the sea. I have 
read what the best books have said on life and death. I 
have been very curious about the to-morrow of death. 
Visions, trances, spiritual phenomena, prove a future life. 
I was at the funeral of a blanket Indian. His people 
buried, him. The father of the man who was dead and 
myself lingered at the grave. And he said : ' He is there, ' 
pointing down. But he said, 'The quiver is there, but 
the arrow is shot. His ponemah (dream) has gone to 
the sky.' Perhaps some doctor of divinity on Easter 
Sunday will improve on that. How did that come to that 
poor savage! God knows how to tell His children the 
things they need to know. ' ' 

REV. LORENZO DOW — This gentleman, a strong, unique, 
eccentric and brilliant Methodist preacher, drawing 
crowds and exciting the multitudes to the threshold of 
ecstacy wherever he preached, was an inspirational 
spirit medium. He received through a kind of trance- 
dream his command to preach. Referring to his auto- 



]92 What Is Spiritualism f 

biography, he says: "I saw myself walking in the soli- 
tary woods beside a brook, and saw a beautiful stalk 
about eight feet high; from the middle and upwards it 
was covered with beautiful seeds. I heard a voice over 
my head saying to me, ' Shake the stalk, that the seeds 
may fall off, and cover them up; the seeds will be of 
great value to some, though not to thyself; but thou shalt 
receive thy reward hereafter.' I shook the stalk, and 
beautiful speckled red seeds fell off, and I covered them 
up with earth and rotten leaves, and went on my way 
to serve the Lord." Not to relate the rest of the vision, 
this was to Dow a sign of a call to preach. And this be- 
lief was confirmed by the spirit of John Wesley, who came 
to me in a vision and told me that there was i ( a dispensa- 
tion of the Gospel committed to him." Moreover, Lo- 
renzo then recognized the spirit of John Wesley as the 
same who had appeared to him several times. 

When he was about thirteen years old he often de- 
clared that he saw angels and spirits whom he once knew 
as men. He also, on a time, dreamed that he "died and 
was buried under a hearth ; the lid which composed part 
of the hearth was marble. My father, coming into the 
room, said, 'What is there?' One replied, 'Your son 
lies there. ' He then pulled off the lid, and, behold! it 
was the truth. And I stood by the body, ' ' said Lorenzo, 
"and, behold! it began to putrefy and molder. I was 
then a mystery to myself to see my body in one place 
and I standing in another. I began to feel to see if I was 
flesh, when a voice seemed to answer, r I will explain the 
mystery to you. If you had tarried in America, you 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 193 

would have died as the prophet predicted, and your body 
been moldering as you now see it.' " 

These citations auto-biographical and biographical, 
are from Dow's journal, which is full of his visions and 
prophecies, and shows that he lived what might be called 
a dream-life or a dual life, in the body and out. He ,was 
looked upon as a wonder, or a prophet of God. 

, THOMAS F. EDISON, whose fame has gone out through 
all the world, — the inventive genius and " science wiz- 
ard,' ' as he has been called, was but seven years old, 
and before he had attended school, when his hand was 
controlled to write very clearly by an unseen spirit in- 
telligence. John Eggleston writes (see Banner of Light, 
May 2, 1896) : 

"Thomas Edison's parents were Spiritualists, and I 
have many times sat in circles in their home when this 
great inventor was a mere child." 

Only two years ago, when on a visit to Hudson Tut- 
tle, Berlin Heights, Ohio, he kindly took me around in 
his carriage to the old brick house where the Edisons 
once lived, and gave me some very interesting accounts 
of the family and their mediumistic gifts. 

A gentleman of Port Huron, Mich., writing of Mr. 
Edison, of New York, states as follows: "I have 
known Thomas Edison from a boy, and all of his father 's 
family. His parents were good Spiritualists, and a son, 
William Pitt Edison, was a pronounced believer in the 
phenomena, and I understand that Thomas is also a 
believer in spirit-return and mediumship, but that he 
does not talk upon the subject except to persons he is 
familiar with." 



194 What Is Spiritualism? 

Spiritualists have long taught that the "spiritual 
body ' ' mentioned by Paul is a substantial body. Photog- 
raphy has now demonstrated this, for the spiritual bodies 
of spirits have been photographed and identified. 
Spiritualists have further taught that surrounding every 
human being there is a refined etherealized aura — an 
emanation — dark hued, gray, white, or golden, accord- 
ing to character and grade of moral development. Sci- 
ence now steps in and demonstrates this. M. Jodko 
(see Papers in L'Initation) using the Bumkorff coil 
in connection with the Crookes' tube, has made these 
aural impressions of hand and forms upon the sensi^ 
tized plate. 

"M. Jodko has made more than 3,000 experiments 
with different persons and has been enabled to establish 
as facts:— 

"1. The existence of a specific emanation proceed- 
ing from the human body and differing according to in- 
dividuals and temperaments. 

"2. Certain objects, among other plants and mag- 
nets, manifest this emanation also which is always ca- 
pable of being photographed. 

"3. This emanation varies according to the condi- 
tion of health to such a degree that it may reveal sev- 
eral days in advance a disease which is about to show 
itself, and indicate the particularly weak point in the 
organism. 

"4. When the hands of two persons are presented 
to the sensitive plate with fingers placed in opposition 
to each other, the direction of the emanation is quite 
different where persons are repugnant (antipathetic) to 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 195 

each other, where neutral and sympathetic, so that aside 
from pathological diagnosis we may obtain a psycho- 
logic diagnosis. In case of antipathy between the per- 
sons whose fingers are thus placed in near proximity 
to the plate the emanations repel each other; in the 
case of persons of neutral dispositions toward each other 
the emanations simply remain apart, while in case of 
persons in sympathy with each other the emanations 
rush toward each other.' ' 

And so Spiritualism and science unite in demonstrat- 
ing immortality. 

CARL DU PREL is quoted as saying that "this connec- 
tion of physics with Spiritualism will really extend to a 
vast extent.' ' 

Undoubtedly! Science, Spiritualism, and true re- 
ligion are in perfect accord! 

SIGNOR MARCONI, inventor of wireless telegraphy, be- 
came a convert to Spiritualism through the gifted me- 
diumship of Princess D'Antini del Drego, in her palace 
at Kome, Italy. 

For the following article and extracts on Telepathy 
and Thought Emotions we are indebted to the accom- 
plished writer and author, W. Britten Harvey, in his 
i ' Science and the Soul ' ' : — 

"A wonderful age, this, in which to live! But there 
are greater marvels than any of these revelations in 
store. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
it entered into the heart of man to conceive the glories 
and wonders that are yet to be revealed. The scientific 
demonstration and acceptance of the fact of telepathy 
is a step in the direction to which I refer — the revela- 



196 What Is Spiritualism? 

tions of what PROFESSOR ZOLLNER, the eminent German 
Scientist, calls Transcendental Physics, which seem 
destined to conclusively prove the continuity of exist- 
ence and the immortality of the soul. 

MR. W. T. STEAD, the brilliant journalist and social 
reformer, and the confidant of Emperors and Kings, has 
told ns over and over again that he is in daily communi- 
cation with friends at a distance to whom he sends tele- 
pathic messages, and receives answers by the same mys- 
terious channel, upon which he acts as though he had 
actually been in conversation with the party with whom 
he has thus been invisibly connected. "I find this a 
great convenience," he says, "for it saves a lot of per- 
sonal interviewing, and consequently a lot of time." 

Here, then, we have two minds communicating with 
each other, and SIR WILLIAM CROOKES tells us that if he 
were today beginning his investigations in the Transcen- 
dental realm he would base his researches upon this su- 
preme and proved mental fact of telepathy, because, if 
two minds, whilst still in the flesh, can communicate with 
each other, he sees no reason why two minds— one in 
the flesh and the other out of the flesh — should not be 
able to do the same. 

The transference of thought, then, from one mind 
to another, is today accepted by official science, and this 
has naturally led to investigation of the nature of 
thought, with the result that thoughts are now described 
— not as mere "no things,' ' but as palpable though in- 
visible, "things," which shoot forth from the mind like 
the electrons which dart from a piece of radium, and 
go careering through space until they strike some recep- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 197 

tive mind with which they have an affinity, and the in- 
dividual is correspondingly influenced thereby. If the 
thought is evil it will influence him for evil. If it is 
good it will influence him for good. There is no more 
impressive statement in the whole of this work than that 
which I have just presented. Only think of it! 
Thoughts are things, and your thoughts and my thoughts, 
by the influence they exert may possibly determine the 
ultimate destiny of immortal souls! 

Professor Larkin describes thoughts as " electric 
corpuscles ' ' darting hither and thither with inconceivable 
rapidity in search of a congenial lodgment, and to show 
that this conception of the nature and power of thought 
is no empty flight of the imagination, it will only be 
necessary to d^aw attention to the photographic experi- 
ments conducted by the late DR. BARADUC, the eminent 
nerve specialist, of Paris. If thoughts are things, he 
considered it should be possible to photograph them. He 
accordingly prepared a special apparatus, with an ex- 
ceptionally sensitive plate attached, and under the most 
conclusive conditions obtained a series of strikingly dis- 
tinct, and, in some cases, most beautiful pictures of these 
thought forces and emotions. 

These pictorial wonders were reproduced in the Il- 
lustrated London News, and their publication caused a 
great sensation in the scientific circles of Europe. One 
of these photographs represents a column of prayer. 
By arrangement with half-a dozen devout persons, a 
prayer meeting was held in an apartment at the top of 
the Eiffel Tower. The special camera was arranged in 
position, and at a given moment Dr. Baraduc took the 



198 What Is Spiritualism f 

picture. The result was a very clear and impressive 
representation of the thoughts and aspirations of these 
intensely earnest souls rising like a column of incense 
as though ascending direct to the very throne of God. 
He has also taken good thoughts and bad thoughts of 
certain individuals, placid thoughts and stormy thoughts, 
and the pictures they produce are most remarkable — 
some beautiful in their sweet and tranquilizing aspect, 
whilst others resemble a veritable mental typhoon, ac- 
cording to the humor of the subject at the time the photo 
was taken. 

Dr. Baraduc further believed that psychic powers 
could be applied to the treatment of diseases, and in this 
connection the pictures representing the forms of bene- 
dictions and of a flow of curative force at Lourdes during 
the performance of a " miracle' ' are certainly very sug- 
gestive. The wonderful cures wrought at Lourdes year 
after year have hitherto been regarded by the majority 
of people either as frauds or purely imaginary occur- 
rences, but it is now known that they are well based 
scientifically and are too real to be any longer disputed. 
They are, apparently, due to that Spiritual "gift of 
healing, ' of which Paul writes, and the potential curative 
agency is, seemingly, a mysterious psychic emanation 
which is sufficiently palpable to impress a sensitive plate. 
"I am not a Spiritualist, nor a doctrinaire, ' ' says Dr. 
Baraduc, "but speak from experience, and I declare I 
have found forces surrounding man which have been 
registered on photographic plates. Man is surrounded 
by an atmosphere of personal ether. Every human be- 
ing has an impalpable double, which reproduces his form 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 199 

and which allows us to explain ghost stories and the phe- 
nomena of double sight. Call it soul, if you like, or 
astral body. I have photographed this ether double 
eighty hours after death. When my wife died I photo- 
graphed a nebulous globe ivhich escaped from her like a 
soul. You see, there are forces in this world and forces 
in the other world. When, in the name of truth, spir- 
itual scientists unite with material scientists, we will 
arrive at a knowledge of the synthesis of the forces 
which regulate our life and our immortality, for man 
does not belong to this planet only, but to the starry 
spaces in which his thoughts revolve." 

Nor are we indebted to Dr. Baraduc alone for this 
revelation. Colonel Albert de Eochas has conducted 
similar experiments with great success, and in The An- 
nals of Psychical Science, in February of last year, he 
contributes an illustrated article showing not only re- 
markably vivid representations of thought forces, but 
also of the partial and complete severance of the astral 
body from its physical counterpart, the complete astral 
form being identical in outline with the human body. 
"We have a natural body and we have a spiritual body." 
says St. Paul. Was it this astral body to which Paul 
alluded as the spiritual body? Was he aware of the 
existence of this duplicate which we are only just dis- 
covering? And, it should be remembered, the camera 
cannot lie! 

PROFESSOR HYSLOP, a gentleman connected with and 
occupying a chair in the Columbia University, New York, 
is an avowed Spiritist, if belief in an intercommunion be- 
tween the worlds seen and unseen, constitutes one. The 



200 What Is Spiritualism? 

same may be doubtless said of PROFESSOR JAMES, of Har- 
vard University, also mentioned before, and considered 
by many the leading psychologist of the world. 

The previous skepticism and cold, dreary material- 
istic tendencies of Professor Hyslop are exemplified in 
the following quotations from his new book and published 
in a late Banner of Light (1902), from the pen of E. A. 
BRACKETT, a clear-minded thinker, whose moral integrity 
was never questioned. "It is reported," said Mr. Brack- 
ett, on what appears to be good authority, "that after 
employing Mrs. Piper, the Psychical Eesearch Society 
had admitted others outside of the society at the mod- 
est sum of ten dollars a sitting, and an additional fee 
for paying their clerk for recording the communication. ' ' 
This is spirit intercourse with a high tariff, and reminds 
us of Henry Slade, who, reaching London and exhibit- 
ing his diamonds, charged a guinea for a half hour 's con- 
versation with spirits. He is now a subject of charity. 
No man can very long serve God and mammon. "Pro- 
fessor Hyslop ? s book," continues Mr. Brackett, "which 
was to astonish the world is now before the public, and 
here follows extracts": — 

"First. No one except Dr. Hodgson and my wife 
was to know that I was to have the sittings, and only 
Dr. Hodgson was to know the arrangements. This plan 
was carried out in entire secrecy. 

"Second. The arrangements for the sittings were 
not to be made with Mrs. Piper in her normal state, but 
the trance personalities in her trance state. 

"Third. The arrangements for my sittings were not 
made in my name, but in the pseudonym of l Four Times 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 201 

Friend' so that neither the supraliminal nor the sublim- 
inal of Mrs. Piper could have any clue to my identity. 
"Fourth. When I went to conduct the experiments 
and before reaching the house of Mrs. Piper, about 200 
feet from the house and while in a closed coach, I put 
on a mask covering the whole of my face and entered 
the house wearing the mask, met Mrs. Piper and went 
on with the sittting in this condition. 

"Fifth. When introduced to Mrs. Piper, it was under 
the name of Mr. Smith, which is the usual name by which 
Dr. Hodgson introduced strangers. I bowed to her 
without uttering a sound, the object being to conceal 
my voice equally as well as my face. 

"Sixth. In the whole series of my sittings Mrs. Piper 
never heard my voice in her normal state except twice, 
when I changed it into an unnatural tone to utter a sen- 
tence, in one case only four words. 

"Seventh. In the whole course of the sittings I was 
careful not to touch Mrs. Piper, and I never came into 
any contact with her to render any muscular suggestion 
possible, except, perhaps, half a dozen times when I 
seized the hand while writing, to place it on the writing 
pad which it was escaping. Once I held her head while 
she was straightened in the chair in which she was sit- 
ting. But at all other times I avoided every form of 
contact that could even make muscular suggestion con- 
ceivable. 

"Eighth. The above record shows that the facts ob- 
tained were either without any questions at all, or with- 
out questions calculated to suggest the answers given. 
I was extremely careful to avoid verbal suggestion. 



202 What Is Spiritualism? 

"Ninth. During the writing I stood behind and to 
the right of Mrs. Piper, in a position which concealed 
any view of me and my movements absolutely from any 
visual knowledge of Mrs. Piper, whether supraliminal 
or subliminal, even had her eyes been open instead of 
closed in the trance. It was necessary to take this po- 
sition in order to be able to read the writing as it 
went on." 

This is not reproduced here so much to show its utter 
absurdity as to illustrate the mental, moral and magnetic 
atmosphere that Mrs. Piper has had to encounter. If 
those who once dwelt here have not lost their appre- 
ciation of mirth there must have been a merry time on 
the other side, watching the Professor trying to conceal 
his identity so as to escape Mrs. Piper's subliminal self 
and the possibility of muscular suggestion. He has 
some reputation in sleight-of-hand tricks, but this seems 
to have been overshadowed by his attempt to impersonate 
one of the great family of Smith. 

The above extracts are absolutely amazing, consider- 
ing that so many of the brightest and brainiest men of 
the world have, after years of patient and critical exam- 
ination of occult or spiritual phenomena, announced 
themselves Spiritualists. This Columbia professor calls 
to mind the cowardly Nicodemus of the Pharisees, who 
went to see Jesus "by night." 

And further, the consummate ignorance of this pro- 
fessor concerning necessary conditions for sensitives, — 
ignorance concerning environments, magnetic states, the 
chemistry of the finer forces, the auras of dissimilar tern- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 203 

peraments, and the rhythmic sympathies existing between 
spirits incarnate and discarnate, are appalling. 

Think of it ! This university man of New York go- 
ing to a seance, masked, — going, concealing his view from 
the medium, — going under a false name, going as a de- 
tective in a closed carriage, thus carrying the spirit of 
deception, suspicion, and fraud into the seance room, 
which room should be dedicated and consecrated to 
cleanliness of body, purity of soul, and the sublimity of 
angel ministries. And astonishing as it may further 
seem, Dr. Hodgson was a party to all this "psychical 
research flummery.' ' It may not be amiss for me to 
say right here that I am an interested and paying mem- 
ber of the Psychical Research Society (or was till Oc- 
tober 20th, when I withdrew) ; but stoutly disapproved 
of all such proceedings as the above; and also, as I do 
of Dr. Hodgson's accepting the testimony of the sec- 
tarian, Rev. S. L. Krebs (Keading, Pa.), relating to the 
mediumship of the Bangs Sisters, in preference to the 
testimony of the honored Lyman C. Howe, and I may 
add, many other intelligent and scholarly Spiritualists 
who have sat with these mediums for days, months, and 
years. This walking on stilts with the assumption of 
superiority on the part of certain Psychic Eesearchers, is 
as silly as it is distasteful to science, and truly cultured 
society. It is not strange that millions of Spiritualists 
are asking when will the Psychical Research Society stop 
"threshing over old straw?" What have they really 
accomplished? What have they demonstrated in the 
interests of truth that has not been known for a genera- 



204 What Is Spiritualism? 

tion and more to the great body of English and Ameri- 
can Spiritualists? 

SENATOR LELAND STANFORD, late governor of Califor- 
nia, and founder of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, 
of California, one of the best institutions of learning — 
while comparatively new — of America, which was insti- 
gated and inspired from the spirit world. This univer- 
sity is situated at Palo Alto, about a mile from the rail- 
way station, and thirty-four miles from San Francisco. 
The family of Stanfords was blessed with one son, Le- 
land, who, while traveling in Europe with his father, 
was taken ill at Florence, Italy, and soon died, at the 
age of sixteen, the very morning time of life. He was 
an uncommonly brilliant young man, both intellectually 
and morally very promising. While Governor Stanford 
was watching by his bedside (see "National Cyclopedia 
of American Biography," Vol. II, page 129), wearied out 
with a prolonged care, he dropped asleep, and in that 
sleep he dreamed, that his son said to him: "Father, 
don't say you have nothing to live for; you have a great 
deal to live for — live for humanity, father." While 
this dream was passing through the brain of the father, 
death took the son. Determined to carry out the idea 
suggested, he made up his mind to found the great uni- 
versity which bears his son's name,— the Leland Stan- 
ford Junior University. This recorded biographical 
sketch reminded me of what Thos. W. Stanford said at 
the close of a spiritual seance in his house — "The Stan- 
ford family is a Spiritualistic family." When the Stan- 
fords lost their son by death, their hearts necessarily 
ached in deepest sorrow. They loved him as only par- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 205 

ents could love a most promising child. Upon him they 
looked for the staff to lean upon in their declining years. 
No artist can put on canvas, no poet express their soul- 
felt grief. Where should — where could they go for 
comfort? They had no faith in orthodox creeds, hence 
they naturally turned to the higher heavenly world for 
some backward glance, for some message from him who 
had been transplanted from earth to the world invisi- 
ble. They consulted sensitives, clairvoyants, and sev- 
eral highly developed mediums, and with the greatest 
satisfaction. Among these were Mrs. Ada Foye, Mrs. 
Maude Lorde, and others. Bishop Newman attended 
some of these seances, opening them with prayer. Gov- 
ernor Stanford also consulted mediums in New York. 
Judge A. IL Dailey informed me only a few weeks since 
that he had sat in seances with Senator Stanford and 
family. The family became thoroughly convinced that 
they received direct messages from their son. These 
messages were so satisfactory and spiritually uplifting 
that they resolved to strictly carry out his wishes as 
expressed to them from the spiritual world; and this 
wish was, that the most fitting mausoleum that they could 
construct to his memory would be a non-sectarian uni- 
versity where American youth might be educated physi- 
cally, mentally, morally, and spiritually, — educated to 
properly attain unto a royal man and womanhood. 

What, then, was the prompting undertone — the in- 
spiring motive that constructed this colossal, non-sectar- 
ian institution? The only legitimate answer that can 
be given is— Spiritualism. True, it was said that when 
Senator Stanford was under fire for political prefer- 



206 What Is Spiritualism? 

ment, that lie said, "lam not a Spiritualist in the com- 
mon acceptation of that term." Quite possibly he may 
have said this. Hundreds of genuine Spiritualists could 
say the same when confronted with some of the follies 
and extravagancies that have been hitched on to Spirit- 
ualism. But the solid, substantial fact remains that the 
Stanfords were devoted Spiritualists, and not material- 
ists or doubting agnostics, and this magnificent univer- 
sity, reported with its building, grounds, and vineyards 
to be worth fifty millions of dollars, is the richest in 
America, if not in the world. 

THOMAS W. STANFORD, of Melbourne, Australia, Leland 
Stanford's brother, during 1901 held eighty seances with 
Mr. C. Bailey, a very remarkable Australian medium. 
Twenty of these I had the pleasure of attending myself. 
This Australian Stanford, United States ex- Vice Consul, 
is a man of decided culture, influence and wealth. He 
has already put hundreds of thousands of dollars into 
the California Stanford University, and on the front of 
the great library building his name is elegantly carved 
; — a monument to both his love of literature and Spirit- 
ualism. 

Concerning the phenomena occurring at the Stanford- 
Bailey seances, we cull the following from the able pen 
of W. Britten Harvey in " Science of the Soul": — - 



RIGID TESTS IN SYDNEY 

The Medium Tied Up In a Bag 

"The tests to which Mr. Bailey has been subjected in 
Melbourne, however, are only moderately severe when 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 207 

compared with some of the very rigid conditions to which 
he has been subjected elsewhere. At the request of an 
eminent Sydney doctor and several scientific friends as- 
sociated with him, Mr. Bailey went to Sydney in 1903 
for the purpose of giving a series of sittings. The mem- 
bers of the circle were allowed to impose their own con- 
ditions, which were of a particularly stringent character, 
but in spite of every precaution taken to detect fraud, 
similar phenomena occurred to those that had been wit- 
nessed in Melbourne. The full details of these experi- 
ences were set out in an official report contained in a 
book of 140 pages and entitled, "Rigid Tests of the 
Occult." The thoroughness with which two or three of 
the more sceptical investigators searched the medium be- 
fore each sitting may be described as follows : — 

The coat pockets were first overhauled, the lining 
was felt all over, then the coat was folded, placed on a 
chair beside Dr. X. and left there during the sitting. The 
control meanwhile separated the arms, so that the arm- 
pits could be searched by sight or touch; the hands, in- 
cluding the spaces between the fingers, being also exam- 
ined by at least two pairs of eyes and hands. Then, 
while the arms were still extended outwards the clothes 
were searched, the pockets turned out, the linings ex- 
amined, the non-possibility of secret pockets or recep- 
tacles noted, and every inch of the body from head to 
foot pressed hard and stroked down deliberately and 
systematically, somewhat after the manner of massage. 
As one of the more sceptical searchers remarked, when 
asked if he was satisfied, "Satisfied! why not a three- 
penny bit could have escaped. ' ' 



208 What Is Spiritualism? 

After this exacting scrutiny the medium was placed in 
a bag, — with his arms and head free — secured beyond the 
possibility of opening without detection, and yet under 
these exceptionally stringent circumstances, the following 
objects were brought into the room on various occasions : 

Ten coins of the reign of the Ptolemys. 

Three ancient Eoman coins. 

One Egyptian Scarabeus. 

Twenty precious stones. 

Three live Indian jungle sparrows. 

One bird's nest. 

Eight Tablets. 

One newspaper in Arabic. 

One shovel-nosed shark, one foot long. 

Some dripping seaweed. 

A half baked Chupatty Cake. 

A terra cotta Cylinder weighing upwards of two 

Denuded of All His Clothes 

What were called "Special Test Sittings" were also 
held. On one of these occasions every garment of the 
Sensitive ivas removed, including boots, sox and under- 
wear. He was subjected to "a deliberate and most care- 
ful search of his whole body by appointed searchers. He 
redressed in other clothes, not his own, also searched, and 
was then linked to the already searched seance room." 
Immediately the company had entered the room — which 
was an apartment in the private house of the medical 
gentleman who had instituted the investigations — the door 
was locked and sealed on the inside. 

The Sensitive, still kept under close observance, was 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 209 

then placed in a cage covered with mosquito netting at 
the sides and top ; the cage was screwed down to the floor, 
and adhesive plaster placed around its base. As one 
of the sitters observed — i ' You couldn 't even get a three- 
penny bit into the cage," and yet even under these very 
rigid conditions the phenomena continued as before, the 
apports falling inside the cage without injury either to 
the netting or the frame work. 

Boxing Gloves Used 

To add still further to the completeness of the 
"Tests," what was considered by the most sceptical ob- 
server to be an absolutely crucial and convincing test was 
resorted to. This was nothing more nor less than search- 
ing the Sensitive as heretofore and, in addition, placing 
on his hands a pair of the largest-sized boxing gloves 
tied securely at the wrists and sealed. In this grotesque 
guise he was popped into the cage and his prison house 
was screwed down and sealed as on former occasions. 
"Within a second," says the Report, "down fell some- 
thing hard with a noise inside the cage. . . . and in 
a few seconds more another solid article fell into the 
cage as if from a height." The apports thus brought 
consisted of two baked clay tablets with cuneiform writ- 
ings thereon, one of which was broken as the control 
was unable to catch it with his clumsily-gloved hands. 

This unique test having failed to stop the manifesta- 
tions, the gloves, the seals of which were found to be in- 
tact, were taken off and thus the hands of the Sensi- 
tive — who still remained in the cage — were left free to 
catch any live object that might possibly be brought. The 



210 What Is Spiritualism? 

proceedings were then continued, various apports began 
to arrive, and by the time the Seance concluded it was 
found that the following assortment of presents had mys- 
teriously come to hand: — 

Two baked clay tablets. 

Two live birds — Indian jungle sparrows. 

One bird's nest. 

Fourteen ancient coins, some of them of the Ptolemy 
reigns in bronze and electrum with the head of Jupiter 
Ammon, and on the obverse the double ea.gle of the 
Ptolemys; others of the early Christian period, with the 
head of Constantine the Great and varied figures on 
the obverse. 

An Egyptian scarabeus, described as of soap-stone 
species and said to have been found at Lenderah. 

A plant, about five inches high from clay to top, with 
abundant leaves and green and healthy looking. 

' 'This," continues the narrator, ''completed our spe- 
cially stringent tests, though, indeed, every test was 
stringent and should convince any reasonable person." 

Bailey at Milan — More Stringent Tests 
The astounding character of these phenomena was 
subsequently reported to Professor Falcomer, a distin- 
guished investigator of psychic problems connected with 
the Royal Technical Institute in Venice, and it was sug- 
gested in 1904 that Mr. Bailey should be invited to visit 
Italy for a rigorous examination of his extraordinary 
powers. The Society for Psychic Studies at Milan acted 
on the hint and paid his passage thither. Fourteen sit- 
tings were held and in the official Report of the Society 



• Who Are These Spiritualists? 211 

there is abundant evidence to show that the results were 
of a satisfactory character. 

In addition to thoroughly searching the medium on 
similar lines to those followed in Sydney, he was like- 
wise placed in a bag and put inside a kind of cabinet, 
the top and sides of which were covered with fine net- 
work, so that while he could be distinctly seen, there 
could be no possible contact with any person outside of 
it. The investigators included gentlemen of high literary 
and scientific attainments, and notwithstanding any con- 
dition they sought to impose, the following apports were 
among the more important brought by invisible car- 
riers :— 

A small bird's nest with an egg in it, Dr. Ferrari and 
Signors Odorico and Awanzini testifying that the nest 
was still warm. 

A bird almost black and warm to the touch, which 
afterwards dissolved and disappeared. 

A number of precious stones, uncut. 

A nest with a small bird sleeping in it. 

A small black-headed bird was placed in the right 
hand of the medium and a nest containing a young bird 
in the left. 

A plant which was seen in a flower pot suddenly dis- 
appeared. 

Several Indian chupatties in a state of paste, which 
were said to have been taken from an Indian cook who 
was, at that moment, preparing them for the oven. 

A fish about six inches long, accompanied by a strong 



212 What Is Spiritualism? 

saline odor. A bird was also brought at the same time, 
but both subsequently vanished. 

A luminous cross became visible (it. was Good Fri- 
day) from eight inches to a foot in height; observed by 
all present. 

A number of Egyptian coins and Babylonian tablets. 

Indian woman's head-dress consisting of a large band 
with a sea shell and five antique coins depending from it, 
said to possess magical properties. 

An empty cage was procured and a live bird was 
placed in it by invisible agency. 

A child about five years of age materialized, and 
phosphorescent lights were seen floating about the room. 

Investigation by Professor Reichel 

PHOFESSQH WILLY REICHEL, of the Faculty of Magnetic 
Science, Paris, and author of several well-known works 
of an occult character, arrived in Melbourne and was af- 
forded opportunities of having several test sittings with 
Mr. Bailey. He is an experienced investigator in the do- 
main of psychical phenomena, and was given unreatricted 
control of the medium as regards searching him and lock- 
ing him in the case. He has published the details of his 
investigations, and his experiences appear to have been 
even more convincing than my own. 

Professor Eeichel was thoroughly satisfied with the 
genuineness of the phenomena, and in referring to Mr. 
Stanford's museum of apports, adds, " it is a remarkable 
collection and I am sure that no one could have brought 
the Egyptian tablets, for example, nor those from Thibet. 
I have myself traveled in Egypt, and know that the au- 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 213 

thorities noted carefully everyone who visits the temples 
and graves to see that they do not touch a single stone 
or take anything away with them." 

DR. M'CARTHY — Distinguished physician, surgeon, 
and scientist of Sydney, N. S. W., writes thus to the Hon. 
T. W. Stanford of Melbourne concerning the medium- 
ship of Mr. Charles Bailey : — 

"Our experience of your Medium, Mr. Bailey, has 
been in the highest degree satisfactory. 

"1. That never have I been so startled and impressed 
by any manifestations previously witnessed. 

"2. Never before had psychic phenomena aroused in 
me so keen a sense of the littleness of the achievements 
of science compared with what can be and are being over 
and over again achieved by the superior intelligences at 
work when Mr. Bailey's controls are, for instance, pro- 
ducing the physical phenomena of the sudden translation 
of objects, living and otherwise, from distant lands, and 
the passage of matter through matter. 

"3. Never before have I got more direct proof than 
through his Mediumship of another and higher existence 
in which our individual selves will be perpetuated, and 

"4. Never yet have I met a Medium who, whether 
in the normal condition or through his guides, has been 
more ready and willing to afford any and every fair test 
of genuineness, even at the risk of disturbing the con- 
ditions for the production of psychical phenomena. 

"The more we know of Mr. Bailey here in Sydney, the 
better we like him, and we wish we could steal him from 
you, but as that would neither be possible nor right, our 



214 What Is Spiritualism? 

next best wish is that he may quickly regain that thorough 
strength of which he is in need." 

THE CZAR OF RUSSIA — There are heads uncrowned 
quite as intellectual and worthy as those crowned, wear- 
ing the symbols of royalty. But to those who are still 
tremulously asking, ' ' Have any of the rulers of the Phari- 
sees believed on him!" I beg to remind them that a 
Vienna cable informs the English and American journals 
that "A Eussian Liberal paper printed in Stuttgart states 
that the Czar is suffering from nervous affection. The 
paper further informs us that the Czar has placed him- 
self under the care of Dr. Phillips, a Spiritualist and 
mesmeric healer. Dr. Phillips has summoned the spirit 
of Alexander III, at the Czar's behest, and receives mes- 
sages foretelling imperial and domestic events. The doc- 
tor, it is alleged, treats the Czar mesmerically as spirit- 
ually impressed from the invisible world." 

Be this cable report true or not true, the fact remains 
undisputed that D. D. Home, the Davenport brothers and 
other mediums gave seances to a previous reigning Alex- 
ander and various others of the royal household with 
entire satisfaction. Spiritualism reaches from the peas- 
ant's hut to palaces of royalty. 

Faith Versus Knowledge 

Spiritualism is the higher naturalism, and spiritual 
law, like life, is everywhere. The supernatural is the 
natural upon the spiritual plane of existence. If Jesus 
in his time had telephoned from Jerusalem to Bethany, or 
telegraphed from Jericho to a friend residing at the foot 
of snowy Hermon, these methods of communication would 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 215 

have been pronounced astounding miracles. Can he who 
made the eye not see? Can he who ordained the law, 
whether in the sprouting of an acorn or in the ordaining 
of a constellation, not modify it, or bring into activity 
a higher spiritual law transcending it? In the measure- 
less realm of Absolute Being, Personality reigns supreme. 
And so in the over-encircling lesser realms, minor spirit 
personalities, reigning finitely, produce spiritual mani- 
festations made visible to us under proper conditions. 
They are natural. And being natural to the plane of 
conscious life and intelligence that produced them, they 
as naturally, as scientifically, demonstrate the future 
existence of man. "The vast universe is to me," said 
Emerson, ' ' one grand spiritual manifestation. ' ' And the 
greater necessarily includes the less. 

Personally, I know that the dead are alive — know that 
friends departed, live and manifest to us still — know by 
careful observation and patient experience in connec- 
tion with reason and my best judgment, that the angels 
of God are about us and minister to us. It is knowledge. 
And I can rejoicingly say with the apostle, "For we 
know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." 

Possibly some narrow-minded ecclesiastic may sol- 
emnly say: "I have, never seen the spiritual manifesta- 
tions." Quite likely. Millions have not seen the seas, 
lakes, and canals upon the planet Mars, nor the telescope 
that discovered them. Others have not seen San Diego, 
London, or Calcutta. The more the pity! Ignorance, 
whether churchianic or agnostic, ought to be very mod- 



216 What Is Spiritualism? 

est. What individuals have not seen does not enter into 
the moral equation for determining truth. 

Premonitions, hypnotism, telepathy, trance, visions, 
clairvoyance, psychometry, and other varied spirit phe- 
nomena are all about us, and to ignore them without the 
most candid, critical investigation is the shabbiest sort 
of self -stultification. Having witnessed levitation, i. e., a 
human being floating in the air at high noon (himself and 
myself in the room alone), I am quite prepared to believe 
that the i ' Spirit of the Lord caught away Phillip ' ' from 
the sight of the eunuch, leaving him afar off at Azotus. 
Having seen a medium's hand put by the entrancing 
spirit into the full blaze of a kerosene lamp and there 
held unburned, I am all the more inclined to believe that 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked in the fiery 
furnace, the "form of the fourth' ' as a protecting shield 
being in their midst. Having witnessed spirit writing in 
the air as well as upon walls by a vanishing spirit hand, 
all the more readily do I accept the recorded account of 
the " fingers of a man's hand" mystically writing upon 
the wall in Belshazzar's palace. Soundly, said the most 
distinguished of the Beechers, "Modern spiritual mani- 
festations strengthen faith." And just how sectarian 
religionists can believe and piously preach that the sun 
and moon stood still, and that the whale swallowed Jonah, 
and yet imperiously deny the long-prayed-for and now 
realized spiritual gifts and manifestations, as attested 
by many of the most highly cultured, most scientific, and 
most erudite men of this and of foreign countries, is to 
me not only painfully unaccountable, but it must and 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 217 

does seriously try the patience of all enlightened Chris- 
tians. 

Is it reiterated, "I have not witnessed the spirit man- 
ifestations, I have not seen spirits 1 ' ' What of it 1 Fran- 
cisco Sizzi was once in a similar predicament. These 
were his words: — 

"Morever, the satellities of Jupiter are invisible to 
the naked eye, and, therefore, can exercise no influence 
over the earth, and, therefore, would be useless, and, 
therefore, do not exist." 

This is logic gone mad. Ecclesiastics should not only 
be abreast of, but in advance of their age, that they may 
fulfill the command, "Feed my sheep." But corn that 
yellowed in Kedron's Valley two thousand years ago 
will not feed the hungry of today ; recEewing the church- 
ianic husks of the post-Constantine period will not fat- 
ten our souls in love and wisdom; nor will the snuming 
of sulphurous Dead Sea breezes cure moral leprosy. The 
people are calling for a living Christ, a living gospel, 
and for earnest, inspirational pulpit exegesis of such 
living issues as the moral education of the masses, the 
abolition of poverty, thought-transference, hypnotism, 
telepathy, psychometry, and spiritual manifestations — 
all of which point to the bettering of life here, or to dem- 
onstrations of a life immortal hereafter. 

The hereafter hells are just as real as the heavens. 
Heaven's rest is not idleness; the soul's activities are in- 
tensified by the transition. The future life is a social 
life, a constructive life, a retributive life, and a progres- 
sive life, where the soul sweeps onward and upward, in 
glory transcending glory, through the ages of eternity. 



218 What Is Spiritualism? 

Spiritualism does not say "good night" in the hour 
of death, but rather gives the glad assurance of a most 
welcome "good morning" just across the crystal river. 
It does not drape the mourner's home in gloom, but lifts 
the grim curtain, permitting us to hear responsive words 
of undying affection from those we love. Oh, let us re- 
joice, then, and be glad in these Easter years of Spiritual- 
ism, for they give life a new meaning. They put new 
courage, new strength, new intelligence, new religious as- 
pirations into our daily duties. 

The primitive Christians were religious Spiritualists. 
They often saw Jesus in visions, and in his name they 
healed the sick. Spiritualism, the complement of Chris- 
tianity, sweetens the bitterest cup, helps bear the heav- 
iest burden, lightens the darkest day, comforts the sad- 
dest heart, and, gathering up the kindly efforts we make 
in behalf of our fellow-men, transfigures them with its 
brightness, ennobles them with its moral grandeur, and 
throws around them the circling aureole of fadeless 
splendors. And further, by and through its holy minis- 
tries, we know that the grave is no prison house for the 
soul, but that life, progressive is ours, eternal in the 
heavens. The higher Christianity and Spiritualism are 
coming together. Their aspirations and aims are one. 
Love is Christ's test of Christianity — that Christ Jesus 
who was "the first born among many brethren." "We 
know," said the beloved John, "that we have passed from 
death unto life, because we love the brethren." Pure 
love, remember, is in the divine seal of Christian disciple- 
ship. To this end that erudite English churchman, REV. 
H. W. MaMERIE, M. A., D. Sc, LL. D., professor of logic 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 219 

and metaphysics in King's College, London, exclaims: — 
"I say Christ's Christianity, for there are plenty 
of other Christianities in the world. But Christ's con- 
sists entirely in morally and spiritually perfecting the 
individual character. His salvation is neither more nor 
less than self-development. Christ's plan was a very 
simple one; it is all summed up in a single word. He 
taught that men were to be saved by love. And if you 
look into the rationale of this, you will see that his plan 
of salvation is profoundly philosophical, perfectly in har- 
mony with the best ethics and the highest metaphysics 
of today." 

When a few more man-made creeds wither, die, and 
rot into deserved non-entity ; when Christ 's Christianity, 
which is pure Spiritualism, prevails, when nominal 
Christians become more Christlike, and nominal Spir- 
itualists more spiritual, the chasm of shibboleths and al- 
most dogmatisms will be bridged, souls will be baptized 
afresh, estranged hands will be clasped, unsympathizing 
hearts will be warmed by the pentecostal flames of love, 
angels will the more readily walk and talk -with daily 
mortals, and all be recognized as constituting a vast fra- 
ternal commonwealth of gods, angels, spirits, and men; 
and love, pure, unselfish love — Christ's universal love — 
will then be the one acknowledged spiritual religion of 
the world. 

Science and Spiritualism combine to demonstrate the 
future life. PBOE. M. T. FALCGNEB, of the Royal Tech- 
nical Institute, Allessandria, in Piedmont, narrates the 
results of experiments with a medium conducted by 
M. M. DE ROCHAS, EICHET, DARIEX, and others, members 



220 What Is Spiritualism? 

of the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, at which the following 
occurred: Movements of objects at a distance, spirit 
hands, the levitation of the medium and her seat, etc., 
enough to make the scientist, M. Eochas, declare "that he 
is more and more convinced that, outside of the effects 
resulting from a purely physical cause, there are others 
due to an intelligent cause or causes, altogether inde- 
pendent of the medium and of the spectators." 

The professor also gives an account of a startling in- 
stance of levitation that came under his notice. "The 
medium was MAGNAI, a law barrister, of Pisa. BE. DEL 
TOETO, formerly editor of the Revista d' Ipnotismo 
in Florence, and his cousin were talking about levitation 
one day in a garden in that city. The doctor's cousin 
was indulging in some scoffing talk on the subject, ridi- 
culing the invisible spirits, and he mockingly challenged 
them to lift him from the ground, in the open air, in 
broad daylight, on the very spot. No sooner said than 
done. He was raised by some invisible agency and then 
thrown down with such violence as to break one of his 
arms, which had to be set at the hospital." There are 
still in this world a lot of pompous, self-sufficient know- 
everythings who might be benefited by similar lessons. 

Probably our "Christian" brethren who have "fallen 
away" from the truths and from the promised New Tes- 
tament ' ' gifts, ' ' will not credit the above, though affirmed 
and testified to by a distinguished living professor in 
a Royal Institute — but they can believe that an angel or 
spirit wrestled with Jacob, when all alone, till "break 
of day," (Genesis 25) — wrestled till he wrestled Jacob's 
"thigh out of joint!" Oh, yes; they can believe that 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 221 

because it is recorded to have happened several thou- 
sand years ago. Indeed, they can believe — they can gape 
at and swallow the old and dry and dead semi-barbar- 
ous past — yet, scoffingly deny God's living presence. 
Such sectarian infidelity shocks both my sensitive and 
religious nature. And as our Prayer Book pleadingly 
says, "Do, good Lord, we beseech thee, show them" — 
these unbelieving nineteenth century " infidels,' ' calling 
themselves Christians — "thy way." 

The gospels of the New Testament — the signs, won- 
ders, visions, trances, and recorded healing gifts are in 
perfect unison with the Spiritualism of today. If one 
mortal who had died, appeared again, that appearance 
would prove a future life. But apples continue to fall 
; — and so do the spirits of the dead continue to reappear 
and give astounding proofs of their identity. Jesus 
" materialized' ' and appeared suddenly to the disciples 
as they sat at meat in an upper chamber, the door being 
shut. (John 20: 19, 20.) 

Matthew assures us that when the "Marys' came to 
the tomb of Jesus there was an angel of the Lord present 
with raiment white as snow" (Matthew 8: 1-7). But 
Mark in describing the same account says that it was 
a "young man" vestured in white. Luke, more explicit, 
declares that the woman saw ' ' two men ' ' clothed in daz- 
zling garments. The points of difference are minor, but 
this fact is important — the same personages are called 
angels, spirits, and men — inen arrayed in white. 

In the Acts — that is — the doings of the apostles, first 
chapter, we are informed that for forty days Jesus fre- 
quently appeared to the disciples and then vanished from 



222 What Is Spiritualism? 

sight. Certainly they were not hypnotized, but rather 
clairvoyant. And so when Paul, the great Christian 
persecutor, was nearing Damascus, full of bitterness, 
" suddenly there shone round about him a light from 
heaven; and when he had fallen to the earth, he heard 
an accusing voice, saying, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me!' " And to this trembling question, "Who 
art thou!" the voice replied, "I am Jesus whom thou 
persecutest." In these days of agnostic "smartness" 
and churchly bigotry, such an occurrence would be ex- 
plained by preachers who feast upon faith and diet upon 
"donations" as ventriloquism, hypnotism, or some form 
of legerdemain. But with Paul it was a pretty serious 
spiritual fact, causing a three days' blindness. Ananias, 
a medium with healing gifts, laid hands on Saul and 
restored his sight. "While I prayed in the temple, I fell 
into a trance and saw him (Jesus, as a spirit) saying 
unto me, 'Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jeru- 
salem, because they will not receive of the testimony 
concerning me'" (Acts 7:17-21). Certainly Paul's 
trances were neither feigned nor epileptic fits, as skeptics 
have often affirmed. The apostles were religious Spir- 
itualists — trance and clairvoyant mediums. That is 
why they were chosen by Jesus ; first, to witness his spir- 
itual marvels, and in the second place, to have their 
mediumship developed by him, that they might become 
Spiritualist missionaries, "preaching the gospel to every 
creature." 

The spirits of Moses and Elias appeared to Jesus and 
the disciples on the mount. Angel in the original Greek, 
signifies a messenger — and "angel," "lord," "spirit," 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 223 

"man," are used interchangeably throughout the Scrip- 
tures. An angel, or messenger of the Lord, spoke unto 
Philip. In verse 59 this angel is called a spirit (Acts 
8:20). Cornelius (Acts 10:3) saw in a vision openly 

. . an angel of God, who told him to send for 
Peter; and when Peter came, Cornelius in relating the 
vision, said "a man stood before me in bright apparel." 
"Surely Cornelius could not have been laboring under 
a mental delusion, or an optical illusion. And there is 
no proof that he was dyspeptic or insane. The New 
Testament, especially, is a great storehouse of Spirit- 
ualism. And it is evident that the apostles believed 
that these visions, signs, and spiritual gifts were for all 
future ages, for in Acts 11:29 an apostle says: "The 
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that 
are afar off." 

Just compare the prison cases of Paul and Peter, 
with those DAVENPORT brothers, whom for years I knew 
personally. 

And, further, WM. H. FAY, who accompanied the broth- 
ers for years in America, England, France, Russia, etc., 
now resides, a wealthy gentleman, in Melbourne, Aus- 
tralia. I was a brief guest at his residence when last 
in Australia. He fully endorses the Davenport broth- 
ers, and retains in his house their old cabinet. 

The Apostle Paul was im- The Davenport mediums 
prisoned, and when releas- were imprisoned in Os- 
ed, he related how "Sud- wego, and when released, 
denly there was a great related how they were lib- 
earthquake so that the erated, and the facts are 



224 



What Is Spiritualism? 



foundations of the prison 
were shaken; and immedi- 
ately all the doors were 
opened, and every one's 
bands were loosened. ' ' An 
earthquake might possibly 
have caused the doors to. fly 
open, but it certainly would 
not have untied or "unloos- 
ened the bands' ' of the 
prisoners. Acts 16 : 26. 
Consider further the 25th 
verse — ' ' And at midnight 
Paul and Silas prayed and 
sang praises." Then fol- 
lowed the "shaking of the 
foundations of the prison, ' ' 
and the opening of the 
doors. Mark well — this all 
occurred in the dark, for 
the keeper "was waked out 
of his sleep," . . . and 
he "called for a light." 
And yet Christians believe 
this happening in the dark, 
and based upon the state- 
ment of Paul, who, by his 
own admission, could not 
sometimes tell whether he 
"was in the body or out." 
"The angel of the Lord 



sustained by an affidavit 
before Justice Barnes — all 
under the sanction of an 
oath. Here it is : — 

"Be it known to all peo- 
ple, that in the seventh 
month, A. D. 1859, we, the 
undersigned, were impris- 
oned in the common jail in 
the City of Oswego, N. Y., 
on account of propagating 
our religious principles ; 
and that after twenty-nine 
days of our confinement, at 
evening, when we were all 
in our prison-room to- 
gether, as we had just been 
locked in by the jailer, we 
having truly answered to 
his call, a (spirit) voice 
spoke and said, 'Band, you 
are to go out of this place 
this night. Put on your 
coat and hat, be ready.' 
Immediately the door was 
thrown open, and the voice 
again spoke and said, 'Now 
walk quickly out, and on to 
the attic window yonder, 
and let thyself down by a 
rope, and flee from this 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 



225 



came upon him, and a light 
shone in the prison. And 
he smote Peter on the side, 
and raised him up. . . . 
And his chains fell off 
from his hands. And the 
angel (or spirit) said, 
'Gird thyself, bind on thy 
sandals. . . . Cast thy 
garments about thee, and 
follow me.' . . . When 
they were past the first and 
second ward, they came 
unto the iron gate . . . 
which opened to them of 
its own accord, and they 
went out and passed on 
through one street and 
forthwith the angel de- 
parted from him." 



place. We will take care 
of the boys. There are 
many angels present, 
though but one speaks.' 

' * That this did absolutely 
occur in our presence, we 
do most solemnly and posi- 
tively affirm, before God 
and angels and men. 

"Subscribed and sworn 
before me, this first day of 
August, 1859. [Signed.] 

"James Barnes, 
"Justice of the Peace.' ' 

"Ira Erastus Davenport." 
"Luke P. Eand," (See Dr. 
Nichols' (London) biog- 
raphy of the Davenport 
brothers.) 



The above spiritual manifestation rests entirely upon 
the testimony of Peter. The affair happened in the 
dark. No one saw this angel or spirit except Peter — 
no one saw the angel smite Peter — no one saw the angel 
raise Peter up — no one saw the chains fall off from his 
hands — no one save Peter himself heard the angel speak 
— and no one saw the iron gate open of its own accord. 
All of these extraordinary occurrences took place in the 
dark and rest for proof solely upon the say-so of Peter 
— the very Peter that denied his Lord, that drew his 



226 What Is Spiritualism? 

sword, that falsified, that cursed and swore that he never 
"knew the man." In our courts this would be considered 
a pretty tough, untrustworthy witness. So far as we 
know he was not cross-questioned by Jews or Gentile. 
And yet, Christians piously believe these astounding 
spirit manifestations occurring some 2,000 years ago in 
the night, and based upon the bare word of denying, fal- 
sifying, treacherous Peter. God have mercy on these 
churchianic sectarians ! 

Yes, they accept Peter and deny the Davenports, 
whose reputations, by the way, would suffer nothing in 
comparison with that of profane Peter. l But this is the 
old, old story, make Peter a pillar of the Church and 
denounce the Davenports. First, crucify, then deify. 
Stone and imprison the prophets, then utilize the same 
stones later on, in building monuments to immortalize 
their memories. 

Permit me to further press the point. Christians 
refuse to believe that the Davenport mediums were 
released from prison by spirit powers, though occurring 
less than forty years ago, reported in the daily papers 
and sworn to in the most solemn manner before a jus- 
tice of the peace. Personally, I knew the Davenports 
well — knew them to be genuine mediums ; and I also had 
the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Band, the widow, whom, 
so far as I know to the contrary, is still in the body. 

Are our Christian brethren so worldly, so material, 
so moss-buried that a spiritual manifestation must be 
nearly 2,000 years old before they will believe it? Are 
they so benighted, so bigoted, and so creed-incrusted that 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 227 

they can accept only what happened 1800, 1900, or 3000 
years ago? If so, God pity them, God pity them! 

They — these sectarists — believed, or profess to be- 
lieve, that God made the first woman out of one of 
Adam's ribs, that Samson chased and caught the foxes, 
that the big fish swallowed Jonah, that the devil took 
Jesus up on to "an exceeding high mountain/' and other 
petrified survivals of archaic times; but they cannot 
believe the testimonies of the ages concerning spirits' 
return to earth — cannot take the testimony of their 
honest, life-long neighbors — cannot take the testimonies 
of distinguished living men — of professors in universities 
— of eminent judges upon the bench — of careful, plod- 
ding scientists — of profound philosophers — of poets, 
astronomers, historians, and of the literati of the enlight- 
ened world. Such doubting, such churchanic infidelity 
is amazing! God pity them and take their feet out of 
the mire and the clay of this irreligious unbelief that 
brings damnation ! It is as true now as in Jesus ' time 
that "he that believeth not shall be damned/ ' — that is, 
shall be condemned — that is, shall surfer the natural con- 
sequences of bigotry and superstition, which bring fear, 
suffering, and moral death. 

All intelligent persons know that there are not only 
a Nationalist Spiritualist organization, Spiritualist State 
Associations, and thousands of local societies of Spir- 
itualists in America and also more or less in all enlight- 
ened countries — and they further know that there are 
millions of people over the wide world noted for their 
intelligence, conspicuous for their honesty, famous for 
their scientific attainments, noted for their go od moral 



228 What Is Spiritualism? 

characters, and scholarly adepts in psychic research, who 
solemnly testify that (on strictly scientific principles) they 
have investigated and demonstrated the fact of a future 
life through spirit manifestations. Their testimony is as 
direct and overwhelming as it is unimpeachable! And 
Spiritualism — this gospel of the Fatherhood of God, 
brotherhood of man, and the present ministry of spirits, 
is sustained by the higher intuitions of all races. It is 
in harmony with the great law of evolution; it is in 
agreement with pure reason; in accordance with the 
heart's sweetest hopes; and in consonance with the soul's 
highest aspirations. It is found in the inspired teach- 
ings of all sacred books. It is God's living witness today 
of a future conscious existence. And those who war 
against it, war against God and immortality — war against 
the Divine Spirit, the living Christ, and the great apos- 
tolic " cloud of witnesses," the spirits of the "just made 
perfect," assigned to do the Father's will. 

Spiritualism not only demonstrates a future exist- 
ence, not only teaches the certainty of suffering in all 
worlds for wrong-doing, not only encourages invention, 
art, science, exploration, and all sanitary enterprises, not 
only shows memory to be the "recording angel," and 
self-denial, nobleness of purpose, purity of life and sweet 
spirituality to be the ascending steps to heaven, but it 
strikes the chains from millions of slaves and builds un- 
sectarian universities. 

These angel ministries ever appeal to the silent, per- 
suasive, and most powerful incentives to a better life. 
And though no subtle chemistry can impart a more deli- 
cate odor to the roses, though no lapidary can burnish 



Who Are These Spiritualists f 229 

the stars, nor rhetorician add to the moral beauty 
and dignity of a true altruistic life, yet every one can 
cultivate that loving kindness which disarms resentment, 
that patience which endures suffering, that gentleness 
which neutralizes acidity of temper, that forgiveness 
which obliterates personal animosities, that sweetness of 
disposition which adds lustre to all the heavenly graces, 
that consciousness of right which inspires justice, and 
that tender charity which, combined with the other vir- 
tues that angel messages inspire, make the harmonial 
man — heaven on earth. 

"The golden age lies onward, not behind. 
The pathway through the past has led up; 
The pathway through the future will lead on 
And higher. We are rising from the beast 
Unto Christ and human brotherhood." 



SPIRITISM 

All authentic history confirms the statement that 
Spiritism was known in remotest antiquity. Known in 
Iran, India, Persia, Egypt, and China thousands of years 
ago, — known as necromancy, sorcery, magic, and deal- 
ings with the dead. It is found today booked under 
some name in all lands. 

Briefly expressed, Spiritism means converse with the 
dead — the promiscuous dead. Its watchwords and phe- 
nomena, signs, tests, and often its manifestations are 
accompanied with frauds, falsehoods, obsessions, and 
glaring contradictions. If there be such a philosophy 
as the ' ' Spiritual Philosophy, ' ' it must not be considered 
as the philosophy of jealousies, treasure-huntings, false 
prophecies, and contradictions. 

Spiritism with its alleged millions of devotees does 
not prove, as is boastingly said, a future life. I repeat, 
upon testimony of spiritists themselves, calling them- 
selves spiritualists, the phenomena of spiritism does not 
demonstrate the fact of a future, conscious existence for 
all human beings. This we will show further on. 

As a theory, counting in its support a wilderness of 
facts — facts that appeal to the sense perceptions, it is 
the ally of materialism. Its advocates talk and write of 
matter in essence as unknowable — talk and write of mat- 
ter of force (mark, not conscious force, not intelligent 
force) but force — force and matter. 

230 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 231 

Posited upon this unstable base, it necessarily teaches 
that none, or at most only a portion of the human fam- 
ily will consciously exist beyond the grave, and those 
that do exist may ultimately decompose, disintegrate, 
and their elements be swallowed up in the eternal night 
of nonconsciousness — with what an eclipse of hope, with 
what a chill of despair this must strike a mother whose 
darlings so lovingly cling to her bosom! but through 
death, not having " attained' ' the proper intellectual 
standard — are snuffed out — gone from her forever. 

Hudson Tuttle, known to Spiritualists by his writ- 
ings, does not believe in a future life — in immortality 
only for the elect, that is, for only those who have 
"attained" a certain intellectual and moral status. To 
this end he writes: — 

"This -fundamental statement may he made — all 
things which exist are material; without matter nothing 
exists/' 

The position of Mr. Tuttle, as stated and restated by 
him, is that the human race was primarily and purely of 
an earthly and animal origin, the two factors being ' ' mat- 
ter and force." These are among his published words 
and paragraphs appearing in his "Arcana" and "Eth- 
ics ' ' : — 

' ' The Caucasian did not originate from the negro, nor 
is the negro a degraded Caucasian, but both came from 
orangs of different color and character, but while one 
has remained stationary the other has advanced. • . 
In accordance with these principles the immediate ances- 
tors were very different from each other. Some were 
black, some nearly white, some brown," etc. 



232 What Is Spiritualism? 

In his "Ethics of Spiritualism' ' he further writes: — 

"As the animal merges through intermediate forms 
into man, and the infant knows less than the perfect ani- 
mal, the line of demarcation between the perishable and 
imperishable is apparently drawn with difficulty. Not 
so, however; a certain degree of advancement is essen- 
tial beyond which immortality obtains. The line is not 
sharply drawn. A spirit is not necessarily immortal, 
but can become gradually extinguished after an indefinite 
time. ' ' 

In speaking of "the process of formation from phys- 
ical forms,' ' he says: "If this be true, we are to seek 
the origin of the individualized spirit with the origin of 
the physical body. We are to place the growth of one 
with that of the other. The physical body is the scarf old- 
ing by which the spiritual being is sustained, and when 
matured sufficiently [mark the phrase) remains after 
that support is taken away. A certain stage of progress 
or perfection must be reached before this result, else all 
living beings would not be immortal." 

Again he writes : "A spirit is not necessarily immor- 
tal, but can become gradually extinguished, like a lamp 
burning for an indefinite time and then going out. Such 
is the condition of the lowest of mankind. They exist 
after death; but with them there is no progress, no 
desire for the immortal state, and slowly, atom by atom, 
they are absorbed into the bosom of the universal spirit 
essence, as the spirit of the animal is immediately after 
death. 

' ' If it be asked at what age the spirit retains its iden- 
tity, it may be said in reply that no certain date can 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 233 

be given, for that varies with the development of the 
parents. ' ' 

To make his position still plainer and more definite, 
he writes; "Not until a certain development is attained 
is individuality retained after the death of the physical 
body:' 

This is a dubious doctrine, virtually dropping into 
the lap of materialism and adopting the materialist's 
maxim, "from matter to matter, causes and effects bal- 
ancing. ' ' 

Gladly do we turn from this icy materialism, the sis- 
ter of Spiritism, with its lapwings of matter and force, 
to Spiritualism, the antithesis of materialism, of agnos- 
ticism and sectarianism. Spiritualism is an affirmation 
identifying spirit' with self-consciousness. Its two fac- 
tors, using human language, are spirit, self-conscious, im- 
manent and immutable, and refined, etherealized sub- 
stance, which substance, or soul-substance, constitutes the 
make-up of Paul's spiritual body, the transcendentalist 's 
etheric body and the intermediate between the Spirit and 
the physical body. All abiding reality can only be at- 
tributed to the conscious spirit. It is this that consti- 
tutes the immortal man, self-conscious spirit and soul- 
substance duality in unity. 

All intelligence pertains to or springs from the con- 
scious spirit. This quickening spirit is the fountain of 
life and ceaseless activity. It is an immortal entity, be- 
ginningless and endless in duration. It is blessed to say 
I am — I am and eternally shall be — Immortal. 

Spiritualism gives the most irrefragible proof of this 
grand and glorious consummation. 



234 What Is Spiritualism? 



THEIR TESTIMONIES 

When several Spiritualists, distinguished for intel- 
lectual capacity, moral integrity and a wide experience, 
speak approvingly of the writer and of his books, their 
testimonies carry weight. 

DR. B. 0. FLOWER, of the Boston Arena, now editor 
of the Twentieth Century, in reviewing the first edi- 
tion of this book, "What Is Spiritualism and Who Are 
These Spiritualists, ' ' says: "As Spiritualism represents 
the New Thought in its broadest aspects, and as its 
readers are chiefly liberal minded, and broadly cultured 
people who desire to be acquainted with the views and 
beliefs of all serious minded thinkers who are earnestly 
and fearlessly seeking the heights, I think a study of Dr. 
Peebles' new book on "What Is Spiritualism, and Who 
Are These Spiritualists?" will be interesting, even to 
those who are not themselves deeply interested in Spir- 
itualism. 

"Dr. Peebles is not only a ripe scholar and, using 
the term in its highest significance, a deeply religious 
man, but he has, during his four tours around the world, 
made a special study of the religions of various peoples 
and has always approached the great theme in a sym- 
pathetic and open-hearted manner. He has, moreover, 
come in contact with most of the leading investigators 
of psychic phenomena the world over. Few men, there- 
fore, are better qualified to define and discuss the sub- 
ject of Spiritualism than this author. 

"Boston, Mass. B. 0. Flowek." 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 235 

J. R. FRANCIS, in the introduction to his premium 
book, the " Seers of the Ages" — "Among other things 
we will say that Dr. Peebles is distinguished as an au- 
thor, orator, physician and traveler, his name is recog- 
nized in every clime that encircles the globe. His kind- 
ness and benevolence are too well known to need men- 
tion. Here is one instance: He gives to us outright, the 
plates of this remarkable book, The Seers of the Ages 
and it will be sent forth to our thousands of subscribers 
for a mere pittance. It will be a MONUMENT perpet- 
uating his name long after he shall have passed to the 
spirit realms, for it will be practically a gift to our sub- 
scribers, and an immense number will be distributed in 
this country and in Europe. As to its merits, no other 
book in the whole realms of Spiritualism excels it in 
intrinsic value or merit, or will do a greater amount of 
good in the ranks of Spiritualism. 

J. R. Francis." 

"Chicago, III." 

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS— One of the first to write 
me for a copy of "Spirit Mates," only four months be- 
fore his ascension, wrote me as follows: "Your books, 
my dear Peebles, are up to date, vigorous in expression 
and exceedingly valuable, and they will live in libraries 
long after your departure from this planet. You have 
done more than any other person to propagate a rational 
Spiritualism. May you live twenty-five years and more, 
to disseminate truth and extend your influence. 

"Boston, Mass. A. J. Davis." 

(These letters from the great Seer, A. J. Davis, I 
treasure as souvenirs.) 



236 What Is Spiritualism? 

IRRELIGIOUS DENIALS 

! Denying the existence of God, the Absolute Life and 
.Purpose, Wisdom and Love, of the Universe, forms no 
part of Spiritualism. 

Denying the existence of Jesus Christ as the inspired 
son of man and Rabbi of Galilee, forms no part of Spir- 
itualism. 

Denying that the lower races and tribes of earth exist 
hereafter as conscious progressive beings, forms no part 
of Spiritualism. 

Denying that Spiritual intelligences, once human r>e- 
ings, inhabiting earth are innately immortal hereafter, 
forms no part of Spiritualism. 

Denying the uplifting efficacy 'of prayer and the 
utility of invocations to the higher powers, form no 
part of Spiritualism. 

Denying that conduct, that personal wickedness in 
this life, has any effect upon human beings in the next 
life, forms no part of Spiritualism. 

Denying the truth of religion — the necessity of pure 
uhdefiled religion, afire with the Christ-Spirit of toler- 
ance, forbearance and love, forms no part of Spiritual- 
ism. 

THE GENERAL BELIEFS OF SPIRITUALISTS 

Dating from the time of my earthly individualization 
— the conception, I am now in my 89th year, close on to 
the borderland of the nineties, vigorous physically and 
mentally, and by common consent, the oldest Spiritual- 
ist writer and lecturer in the birthland of Modern Spirit- 



Who Are These Spiritualists? 237 

ualism. Accordingly, I feel it a moral right to give a 
general expression to the beliefs of Spiritualists, basing 
them largely npon the published principles of the Na- 
tional Spiritualists Association, Washington, D. C. I 
alone am responsible for the expression and the exten- 
sion of those principles. 

Declaration of Principles 

We believe in and reverence God the Infinite Intelli- 
gence, the Will, Wisdom and Love of the Universe. 

We believe that the phenomena of nature, physical 
and spiritual, are the expressions of Infinite Energy and 
Wisdom, implying purpose and will, and that all men are 
virtually immortal. 

We believe — and more, we know that the existing 
personality of the individual continues after the death of 
the body. 

We believe from personal investigations — we posi- 
tively know that communication with the so-called dead 
is a present day fact, scientifically demonstrated by the 
phenomena of Spiritualism. 

We believe that the highest morality is contained in 
the Golden Eule of the Living Christ — the Christ of 
the ages — and that the Christ Spirit of Love, voiced and 
guided by wisdom is the greatest redemptive power. 

We believe in the moral responsibility of the individ- 
ual and that his happiness or unhappiness depends upon 
obedience or disobedience to nature 's physical, moral and 
spiritual laws. 

We believe that the miracles of ancient times in what- 



238 What Is Spiritualism? 

ever bible found, so far as they were realities, correspond 
to the genuine spiritual manifestations of the present 
time. 

We believe in the efficacy of prayer, as aspiration to- 
wards the true, the pure and the Absolute Presence, and 
in the necessity of faith, repentance, and in the cultiva- 
tion of all those higher religious emotions which tend 
to purify and glorify human character. 

We believe in salvation — that is, soul growth, not 
through "atoning blood," but through personal efforts, 
through living the golden rule, through the aids of past 
seers and the inspirations of our attending spirit helpers. 

We believe in a just and adequate punishment, as 
cause and effect for all wrong doings, which punishment 
is reformatory, resulting in repentance and the Christ 
Spirit of love in the restoration of all earth's erring 
souls to happiness and heaven. 

We believe that a correct understanding of the above 
principles and the practical living of them in connection 
with applied science and the spirit of love and truth 
and righteousness, will in coming time, transform our 
world into a peerless paradise of brotherhood, peace and 
ecstatic happiness. 



A LIST OF OUR 

MORE IMPORTANT BOOKS 

AND PAMPHLETS 



WORKS OF DR. PEEBLES 

On Science, Philosophy, Spiritualism, 
Occultism and Germane Subjects 



IMMORTALITY AND OUR FUTURE HOMES. What a hundred 
spirits, low and exalted, say regarding their homes and daily 
occupations. The conditions of infants, idiots, suicides and 
wicked. Kow spirits influence and entrance mortals. Cloth, 
SI. 15; paper, 85c. 

DEMONISM OF THE AGES AND SPIRIT OBSESSIONS. How unde- 
veloped spirits may cause sickness, disease, paralysis, epilepsy, 
insanity, premature death, suicide, etc. How to avoid and 
cast out, how to attract higher intelligences. Valuable. 400 
pages, $1.17. 

THE CHRIST QUESTION SETTLED. AB about Jesus. Was he 
myth, man, medium, martyr or the very God? A symposium 
of opinions. Valuable evidences from researches in the Orient, 
excavations and explorations. Interviews with noted histor- 
ians and Jewish rabbis. A life's work. 400 pages, SI. 17, 

WHAT IS SPIRITUALISM AND WHO ARE THESE SPIRITUALISTS? 

Revised and enlarged edition, giving a definition of Spiritual- 
ism with extracts from the writings, speeches and testimonies 
of the world's brainiest thinkers, authors, philosophers, scien- 
tists, poets, etc., concerning communion with the dead — val- 
uable reference book— an encyclopedia of information. 250 
pages. Paper, 50c. cloth, 75c. 

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY FACE TO FACE. Active and stir- 
ring debate between a Buddhist priest and a Christian clergy- 
man, held before 7,000 people in a grove at Pantura, Ceylon. 
Bristling with wit and criticisms. The two religions explained. 
34c. 

DEATH DEFEATED OR THE PSYCHIC SECRET OF HOW TO KEEP 
YOUNG. How to live for a century and grow old gracefully. 
What to eat — what to drink — sleep, baths, hygiene, clothing, 
sex, marriage and right living. SI. 15. 

PATHWAY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT TRACED. Nature and origin 
of the spirit — did it pre-exist? Memory of past existence. 
Is reincarnation a fact ? Its unf oldment and destiny. Immor- 
tality and progress beyond the grave. Cloth, 85c. 

VACCINATION A CURSE AND A MENACE TO PERSONAL LIBERTY. 

Treats of inoculation and calf -lymph vaccination from Jenner's 
time to the present. How cow-pox pus is obtained. The 
cause of hundreds of deaths, eczema, pimpled faces, cancers, 
tumors, ulcers, paralysis, leprosy, etc. ClotJ*. £1.00. 



SPIRITUALISM VERSUS MATERIALISM. Seven essays of master- 
ful and scholarly ability. Arguments are thoroughly rational 
and philosophical, sustained by scientific evidence. Excellent. 
Cloth, 40c. 

BIOGRAPHY OF DR. PEEBLES, BY PROF. E. WHIPPLE. Magni- 
ficent volume of 600 pages giving a life history, travels, public 
life, home life and notable incidents. Abounding in ripened 
thought. $1.25. 

IMMORTALITY— ITS NATURALNESS AND POSSIBILITIES. Spirit- 
ualism in the Bible. Spiritualism and the immortal life con- 
tained in ancient books and taught by ancient philosophers. 
Excellent pamphlet. 18c. 

REINCARNATION. A discussion upon the successive embodiments 
of the human spirit. Reincarnation considered and doomed. 
An old Hindu-borrowed theory. The divided opinions of 
Besant, Olcott, Blavatsky, and Tingley. Valuable. 35c. 

SPIRITUALISM COMMANDED OF GOD. Biblical arguments against 
Christianity and the Seventh-Day Adventists. Bright, stirring 
and pointed. 15c. 

ORTHODOX HELL— CHURCH CREEDS AND INFANT DAMNA- 
TION. -Scathing and critical treatise upon sectarian doc- 
trines, creeds and preaching. Beliefs and teachings culled 
from orthodox sources with comments. 19c. 

SPIRITUALISM PRO AND CON. A discussion sharp, pointed and 
brisk, with a scathing reply by Dr. Peebles against the false 
accusations that Spiritualism is of the devil or allied to witch- 
craft. 10c. 

SPIRITUALISM IN ALL LANDS AND TIMES. The Spiritualism of 
Zeno, Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Plutarch, Cicero, Jesus 
and the advanced minds of all past times. Good. 10c. 

PLEA FOR JUSTICE TO MEDIUMS. Special pamphlet devoted to 
the explanation of a certain phase of medium-ship. Proving 
the passage of matter through matter. 5c. 

New and Latest Book 

SPIRIT-MATES, SEX-LIFE, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND RE- 
UNIONS IN SPIRIT LIFE. Origin of spirit-germs, their pro- 
gress and pilgrimage through earth life to the spirit world. 
Marriage and its relations. Are divorces justified ? Marriages 
in the spirit world. When and how spirit-mates unite, how 
soul-mates are brought together, influence of spirits on life. 
Communications from spirits to counterparts of earth. A col- 
lection of valuable experiences. $1.25. 

THE ANGELS OF THE AGES IN MSS. 



FIVE JOURNEYS AROUND THE WORLD. In search of truth, 
studying the rise and progress of nations, races and their 
religions. Finely illustrated — over 500 pages describing the 
manners, customs, laws, governments, art, science and litera- 
ture of all lands. The pyramids and ruins of Mexico — the 
Pacific Islands — New Zealand — Australia — China — Magic and 
wonders of India — Ceylon — Persia — Arabia — Ancient Egypt 
and her pyramids — Assyria — Palestine and the Holy Land — 
Turkey — Greece — Italy — France and Gt. Britain. Interest- 
ing, fascinating and highly instructive throughout. Bound 
exquisitely in blue silk and gold. — $1.75. 

SEERS OF THE AGES. The most comprehensive and "exhaustive 
treatise upon Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Spiritualism ex- 
tant. A veritable encyclopedia of the Seers, Sages, prophets 
and inspired men and women of all ages, with records of their 
teachings and testimony to intercourse with the spirit world — 
Treats of God — Holy Spirit — Baptism — Inspiration — Evil 
Spirits — Hell — Heaven — Prayer etc. A most scholarly and val- 
uable literary contribution portrayed in accomplished style. 
18th edition, cloth binding, 400 pages, $1.00 

HOW TO C0NTERSE WITH THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD, and How 

to Know the Good from the Evil Spirits. A timely and needed 
treatise on spiritual gifts and how to develop them. Do they 
destroy individuality? How to investigate. Clairvoyance, 
Psychometry, Healings, Diagnosing Diseases, etc., etc. Hand- 
some brochure in purple and gold. S(c* 




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